“The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw. ‘O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ and You will not save. Why do You show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround, the righteous. Therefore perverse judgment proceeds.” Habakkuk 1:1-3
Habakkuk was burdened because the Lord revealed to him violence, iniquity, plundering, trouble, strife, contention, lawlessness and injustice. The wicked surrounded the righteous like thorns that strangle food producing plants. Habakkuk hungered and thirsted for righteousness.
Habakkuk means embrace. He wanted to embrace people. Accept them! Love them! But he could not embrace sin, so he carried his burden to the Lord. Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you. He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”
“Look among the nations and watch—be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you. For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and more fierce than evening wolves. Their chargers charge ahead. Their cavalry comes from afar. They fly as the eagle that hastens to eat. They all come for violence. Their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand. They scoff at kings, and princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold, for they heap up earthen mounds and seize it.” Habakkuk 1:5-10
The Lord showed Habakkuk the Chaldeans. They were going to grow up and become mighty. The Lord compared their war horses to swift leopards and fierce wolves. They swoop upon prey like eagles. They are like the east wind that destroys. They take people captive. They mock kings, princes, and fortresses because they know how to overcome them. They are going to use their military might to make land grabs and to plunder the wealth of nations.
“Then his mind changes, and he transgresses. He commits offense, ascribing this power to his god.” Habakkuk 1:11
The Chaldeans were the elite people of Babylon. They erred when they ascribed their victories to their idols. God used their greed to chastise the nations that had abandoned Him. In John 19:11, Jesus told Pilate, “You would have no authority over Me at all unless it had been given you from above.” God allowed Pilate the authority to crucify His Son to fulfill the prophecies spoken about Messiah. The Chaldeans should have given glory to God.
After being humbled by the Lord, the king of Babylon did glorify the Lord. In Daniel 4:37, he said, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are right and His ways are just, and those who walk in pride He is able to humble.” This event came to pass after his military victories, and after he ruled over nations.
“Are You not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, You have appointed them for judgment. O Rock, You have marked them for correction. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he? Why do You make men like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with a hook. They catch them in their net and gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their dragnet because by them their share is sumptuous and their food plentiful. Shall they therefore empty their net, and continue to slay nations without pity?” Habakkuk 1:12-17
Habakkuk asked the Lord about His justice, “Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue.” He lamented before the Lord because powerful people were fishing for weak people with hooks and nets. These human traffickers made sacrifices and offerings to their weapons (nets) because by them they seized people and acquired an abundance of sumptuous food. These beast-like people showed no mercy to their victims.
Lamenting before Lord is a frequently used approach that God’s people use when dealing with problems that are too great for them to resolve. Galatians 4:19 says, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” Paul knew that only Christ could make people more Christlike. In Ezekiel 9:4, the Lord told His angel to, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that be done the midst thereof.” God spared His sighers.
“I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected. Then the Lord answered me and said: ‘Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” Habakkuk 2:1-3
In Habakkuk 1:12-17, Habakkuk prayed. Here in Habakkuk 2:1-3, he watches. In Matthew 26:41, Jesus urged His disciples to watch and pray. Habakkuk watched to see what the Lord would say to him. The Lord showed him a vision of writing tablets. The Lord told Habakkuk to write His Word on tablets so people could read them and run with them.
“Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. Indeed, because he transgresses by wine. He is a proud man, and he does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his desire as hell, and he is like death, and cannot be satisfied, he gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples. Will not all these take up a proverb against him, and a taunting riddle against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases what is not his—how long? And to him who loads himself with many pledges?’ Will not your creditors rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken who oppress you? And you will become their booty. Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you, because of men’s blood and the violence of the land and the city, and of all who dwell in it.” Habakkuk 2:4-8
The phrase, “the just shall live by faith” is quoted in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38. Habakkuk wrote: “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.” Proud people refuse to admit their need for God. They trust in themselves. They justify themselves. The just live by faith in God’s Messiah. Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners.
In Habakkuk 2:5-8, the Lord describes the deeds of the proud. He transgresses by wine. He does not stay at home – not a family man! He heaps up people for himself. The Lord says that this debtor’s creditors will rise up against him. They will oppress and rob him. They plundered others. Others shall plunder them. They must pay for the blood that they have shed.
“Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of disaster! You give shameful counsel to your house, cutting off many peoples, and sin against your soul. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the timbers will answer it.” Habakkuk 2:9-11
Having an abundance of material things and having one’s nest in a lofty place doesn’t guarantee a happily ever after. Psalm 147:10-11 says, “His [God’s] delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor His pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love.” God loves us! He wants us to trust in His love for us.
“Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, who establishes a city by iniquity! Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the peoples labor to feed the fire, and nations weary themselves in vain? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:12-14
People wearied themselves in vain. Jeremiah 5:25 says, “Your sins have kept good things from you.” Their society was built on violence. Such societies shall vanish. One day soon, the earth shall “be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, pressing him to your bottle, even to make him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness! You are filled with shame instead of glory. You also—drink! And be exposed as uncircumcised! The cup of the Lord’s right hand will be turned against you, and utter shame will be on your glory. For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you, and the plunder of beasts which made them afraid, because of men’s blood and the violence of the land and the city, and of all who dwell in it.” Habakkuk 2:15-17
Babylon ruled over many lands and people, but for what good? Did they help them? Did they love them? No, they made them drunk so they could gaze at their nakedness. Human traffickers hook people on drugs and pornography to enslave them. Who will bring them down?
“What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, the molded image, a teacher of lies, that the maker of its mold should trust in it, to make mute idols? Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ To silent stone, ‘Arise! It shall teach!’ Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet in it there is no breath at all. But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.” Habakkuk 2:18-20
The Babylonians promoted idolatry. Idols cannot speak. They have no breath. They do nothing for those who trust in them except put them at odds with the true Creator of the universe.
“A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth. ‘O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid. O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known. In wrath remember mercy.’” Habakkuk 3:1-2
Shigionoth (שִׁגְיֹנוֹת) is a Hebrew musical or poetic term conveying intense joy amidst trouble. [1]
The Lord’s Words of judgment on sin struck fear in the heart of Habakkuk. He asked the Lord to revive His work. He asked the Lord to remember mercy while executing justice. The Lord IS very merciful. It was Babylon and their allies that lacked mercy.
“God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran – Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. His brightness was like the light. He had rays flashing from His hand, and there His power was hidden. Before Him went pestilence, and fever followed at His feet. He stood and measured the earth. He looked and startled the nations. And the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills bowed. His ways are everlasting. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian trembled.” Habakkuk 3:3-7
Teman is south of Judah. Mount Paran is in that area. Mount Paran is near Mount Sinai where God gave His Law to Moses. God came to the people of Habakkuk’s day from the perspective of His Law which they had failed to keep. The sanctions of pestilence and fever which God placed on them was in accordance with His Law in Leviticus 26:16 and Deuteronomy 28:21-22.
“O Lord were You displeased with the rivers, was Your anger against the rivers, was Your wrath against the sea, that You rode on Your horses, Your chariots of salvation? Your bow was made quite ready. Oaths were sworn over Your arrows – Selah. You divided the earth with rivers. The mountains saw You and trembled. The overflowing of the water passed by. The deep uttered its voice and lifted its hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation. At the light of Your arrows they went at the shining of Your glittering spear. You marched through the land in indignation. You trampled the nations in anger. You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for salvation with Your Anointed. You struck the head from the house of the wicked, by laying bare from foundation to neck – Selah. You thrust through with his own arrows the head of his villages. They came out like a whirlwind to scatter me. Their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret. You walked through the sea with Your horses, through the heap of great waters.” Habakkuk 3:8-15
Habakkuk sees the Lord as a mighty warrior who marches through the land. “You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for salvation with Your Anointed.” The devil wanted to destroy the Jews because Christ was to come from their race. The Lord preserved them.
“When I heard, my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble. When he comes up to the people, he will invade them with his troops.” Habakkuk 3:16
This prophecy impacts Habakkuk physically. His body trembles. His lips quiver. His bones feel rotten inside. The Lord showed him that Babylon would temporarily prevail over his people.
“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills. To the Chief Musician. With my stringed instruments.” Habakkuk 3:17-19
What did the Lord do for Habakkuk? He gave him peace and joy despite his circumstances. Though food was in short supply, Habakkuk declared, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.” God helped Habakkuk to navigate past the problems.
God has not changed. Thanks to His grace we have peace and joy amidst chaotic circumstances. We live justly and love mercy in a world full of injustice and cruelty by faith in God’s grace.
In Romans 8:35-39, Paul wrote, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
God’s love for us is amply wide and deep enough to sustain us. “This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” [2]
[1] – Google resources
[2] “This is My Father’s World” hymn by Maltbie D. Babcock
Outcomes I seek: To glorify Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior - To build people's faith in Christ
Friday, December 12, 2025
God’s Strong Love Sustains
The Lord Jesus has graced me with revelations from the Book of Jeremiah that are helpful to better understanding the relevance of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am in the midst of preparing 54 video-recorded presentations, one for each chapter of Jeremiah, plus an intro and conclusion presentation. When the presentations are done, I plan to publish them on YouTube. I also welcome invitations to share these revelations in-person. In the meantime, I publish articles online, intercede for the peoples of the nations, and say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Thursday, December 11, 2025
Fleeing to Christ for Refuge
“The burden against Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.” Nahum 1:1
The exact location of Elkosh is unknown and debated according to various sources. The obscurity of the Prophet Nahum’s hometown has a message for us. No one need come from one of the world’s most respected locations to be chosen by God. Elkosh was likely a small town in Galilee around Capernaum. Nahum means “comfort” in Hebrew. Capernaum means “village of comfort” or “village of Nahum.”
The Lord gave this “burden” to Nahum via a vision. The Lord refers to prophecies that bring sorrow or grief as burdens. Lamentations 3:33 says that God “does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” Rendering severe consequences for sin is burdensome to God.
150 years prior to this burden, the Lord sent Jonah to warn the Ninevites to repent. They did repent with fasting and wearing of sackcloth. Thus, God could justly forgive them and not issue harsh consequences against them. But now, they were behaving very abusively one again.
“God is jealous, and the Lord avenges. The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries. He reserves wrath for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts. The mountains quake before Him, the hills melt, and the earth heaves at His presence, yes, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him.” Nahum 1:2-6
God’s jealousy and vengeance are rooted in love. He deals with covenant breakers. In 2 Corinthians 11:2, Paul wrote of the love of God in his heart for his fellow Christians, “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.” In other words, God is jealous of our affections. He knows if we are truly committed to our relationship with Him, or if another “lover” means more to us than Him. In Matthew 22:36-40, according to Jesus, the first and great commandment is to love God. How is that we forget that? The second great commandment is to love people.
God is patient and longsuffering with us, but ultimately, He is a just Judge. He must judge sin in accordance with His law recorded in the Bible. Law breaking (sin) must be atoned for by blood to avoid the law’s penalties. Hebrews 9:22 says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”
In the Old Testament, God required animal sacrifices to atone for sin. These sacrifices had to be done repeatedly. Hebrews 7:27 and 1 Peter 3:18 verify that the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross for humanity’s sin was a single, complete, and sufficient act that dealt with sin once and for all. 1 Peter 3:18 says “For Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” Hebrews 6:18 confirms that those who have fled to Christ for refuge and who have placed their hope in Christ have a sure and steadfast anchor for their soul.
In Nahum 1:3-6, God is coming to Ninevah the capital of the Assyrian Empire as a whirlwind (tornado) with intense heat that dries up water sources. Flowers shall wilt. Mountains shall quake. Fires shall breakout. Rocks shall be dislodged from their secure places. Nahum asks the Ninevites, “Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure His fierce anger?”
“The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who trust in Him. But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, and darkness will pursue His enemies.” Nahum 1:7-8
Who is wise? Let him or her flee to the Lord for refuge. Trust in the Lord! 1 Peter 5:10 says, “The God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” The God of all grace comes through for those who trust in Him. Hold onto Jesus! When the storm is over, you will be alright.
“What do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time. For while tangled like thorns, and while drunken like drunkards, they shall be devoured like stubble fully dried. From you comes forth one who plots evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor.” Nahum 1:9-11
In Matthew 25:45-46, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ In this passage, these people did not care for the hungry, the thirsty, the foreigner, the naked, the sick or the prisoner among them. The Lord took their calloused hearts towards the suffering of others personally. Of them, He said, “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
In Nahum, the Lord issued severe judgments on the Ninevites for their violence. In Matthew, the Lord issued severe judgments on those who had no concern for the suffering of others.
“Thus says the Lord: though they are safe, and likewise many, yet in this manner they will be cut down when he passes through. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more; for now I will break off his yoke from you and burst your bonds apart.” Nahum 1:12-13
Proverbs 11:21 says, “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.” The Ninevites were many. The Israelites were few. But God assured Israel that He would deliver them from Ninevah’s afflictions, yokes and bonds.
“The Lord has given a command concerning you: “Your name shall be perpetuated no longer. Out of the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the molded image. I will dig your grave, for you are vile.” Nahum 1:14
The Ninevites were proud to be Ninevites, but the Lord was going to reduce respect for their name. He was going to cut down that which they idolized. He would bring them to the grave.
“Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace! O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, perform your vows. For the wicked one shall no more pass through you; he is utterly cut off.” Nahum 1:15
The Lord encourages His people in the land of Judah to hold on. Help is on the way. They should keep their feasts and vows to the Lord. In 2 Kings 19, God sent one angel to deliver Judah’s capital city of Jerusalem from Ninevah’s mighty army. King Hezekiah of Judah and the Prophet Isaiah had fled to the Lord for refuge. They prayed to God. God answered their prayer by sending one angel. That single angel slew 185,000 enemy soldiers. And after that, when the King of Assyria was back in Ninevah worshipping his false god, his sons slew him.
“He who scatters has come up before your face. Man the fort! Watch the road! Strengthen your flanks! Fortify your power mightily. For the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob like the excellence of Israel, for the emptiers have emptied them out and ruined their vine branches.” Nahum 2:1-2
Nahum urges the Ninevites to prepare for an invasion. God allowed the Ninevites to chastise Jacob (Judah) and Israel (the ten tribes) for a season, but now, it is Ninevah’s turn. Soon, Babylon shall attack and defeat them.
“The shields of his mighty men are made red the valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots come with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the spears are brandished. The chariots rage in the streets. They jostle one another in the broad roads. They seem like torches. They run like lightning. He remembers his nobles. They stumble in their walk. They make haste to her walls, and the defense is prepared. The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved. It is decreed: she shall be led away captive. She shall be brought up, and her maidservants shall lead her as with the voice of doves, beating their breasts.” Nahum 2:3-7
Calvin wrote that the Medo-Babylonian soldiers dyed their bull’s-hide shields red to strike terror in the enemy, and to camouflage blood stains from their wounds on those shields. The Assyrians needed to prepare for war with Medo-Babylonian army.
“Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water, now they flee away. ‘Halt! Halt!’ they cry, but no one turns back. Take spoil of silver! Take spoil of gold! There is no end of treasure, or wealth of every desirable prize. She is empty, desolate, and waste! The heart melts, and the knees shake. Much pain is in every side, and all their faces are drained of color.” Nahum 2:8-10
Ninevah’s silver, gold, treasures, wealth and all their desirable prizes shall vanish like water during a drought. The invading army will take away the idols that they built their lives upon..
“Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion walked, the lioness and lion’s cub, and no one made them afraid? The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, killed for his lionesses, filled his caves with prey, and his dens with flesh. Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.” Nahum 2:11-12
The metaphor God uses to describe the Ninevites is of a pride of lions. They teamed up as lions do to hunt, capture, and consume prey. They literally ate good people for lunch. The Lord told them, ”Behold, I am against you.” “Nineveh enjoyed its status as a power-center of the world and gloried in the fact that the voice of her messengers commanded attention in palaces all over the world. That day would come to an end under the judgment of God.” [1]
“Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. Its victim never departs. The noise of a whip and the noise of rattling wheels, of galloping horses, of clattering chariots! Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear. There is a multitude of slain, a great number of bodies, countless corpses—they stumble over the corpses—because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, the mistress of sorceries, who sells nations through her harlotries, and families through her sorceries.” Nahum 3:1-4
Ninevah’s fall is symbolic of what happens to all evil empires. In Revelation 17:1-2, an angel showed John the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” Revelation 18:23 says of this empire, “By your sorcery all the nations were deceived.” God characterizes idolatrous empires as harlots and sorceresses. These evil empires have expiration dates while God’s kingdom lasts forever.
“Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts. I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame. I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle. It shall come to pass that all who look upon you will flee from you, and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her?’ Where shall I seek comforters for you?” Nahum 3:5-7
In Luke 8:17, Jesus said, “Nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.” Skirts over the face and nakedness speak of having one’s sin exposed to everyone. Ninevah’s pride was gross in the spiritual realm and in due season it would appear vile in the physical realm. People would flee from them.
“Are you better than No Amon that was situated by the River, that had the waters around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was boundless; Put and Lubim were your helpers. Yet she was carried away. She went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.” Nahum 3:8-10
No-Amon is the Egyptian name for Thebes in Upper Egypt. Amon was the Egyptian version of the Greek god Jupiter. It was especially worshipped there. The Egyptian inscriptions call the god Amon-re, that is, Amon the Sun. He is represented as a human figure with a ram’s head. The blow inflicted on No-Amon described in Nahum 3:8-10 was probably by the Assyria. As Thebes was defeated by Assyria, so Assyrian Nineveh shall be defeated by Babylon. [JFBC]
“You also will be drunk. You will be hidden. You also will seek refuge from the enemy. All your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs. If they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. Surely, your people in your midst are women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies. Fire shall devour the bars of your gates.” Nahum 3:11-13
They shall drink the cup of God’s wrath. The Lord uses the metaphor of ripe figs falling off of fig tree to describe how Ninevah’s enemies will shake them and swallow up their produce. Their soldiers will be like women. Women were not trained for war. Ninevah’s army would be ill-prepared to fight the Babylonians. Their city would be destroyed by fire.
“Draw your water for the siege! Fortify your strongholds! Go into the clay and tread the mortar! Make strong the brick kiln! There the fire will devour you, the sword will cut you off. It will eat you up like a locust. Make yourself many—like the locust! Make yourself many—like the swarming locusts! You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven. The locust plunders and flies away. Your commanders are like swarming locusts, and your generals like great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges on a cold day. When the sun rises they flee away, and the place where they are is not known. Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria. Your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one gathers them. Your injury has no healing your wound is severe. All who hear news of you will clap their hands over you, for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?” Nahum 3:14-19
The Lord urges the Assyrians to prepare for battle. Preserve water! Make bricks to fortify the walls! Multiply your soldiers until they are like a massive swarm of locusts. But guess what? Your soldiers will flee in the day of battle and not be found. The King of Assyria’s shepherds will be asleep while on duty. His nobles will rest in the dust – die. The city’s people shall flee to the mountains for refuge. Their wound shall be incurable. News of Ninevah’s downfall will be good news to their neighbors.
Nahum’s prophecy is not good news for Ninevah. Usually, preachers try to end their messages on a positive note. Not so with Nahum. He left his readers thinking about sin and its unwanted consequences. We can choose sin, but we cannot choose sin’s consequences. I trust that some people in Ninevah took Nahum’s message from God to heart and repented. Otherwise, why would God have taken the time to write to them?
“Heavenly Father, please forgive us for failing to love You and people as we should. We place all our failures under the atoning blood of Your Son Jesus Christ for You forgiveness. Holy Spirit please fill us with love for God and people. We rely on You, not ourselves. In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.”
[1] Enduring Word Commentary
[JFBC] – Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
The exact location of Elkosh is unknown and debated according to various sources. The obscurity of the Prophet Nahum’s hometown has a message for us. No one need come from one of the world’s most respected locations to be chosen by God. Elkosh was likely a small town in Galilee around Capernaum. Nahum means “comfort” in Hebrew. Capernaum means “village of comfort” or “village of Nahum.”
The Lord gave this “burden” to Nahum via a vision. The Lord refers to prophecies that bring sorrow or grief as burdens. Lamentations 3:33 says that God “does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” Rendering severe consequences for sin is burdensome to God.
150 years prior to this burden, the Lord sent Jonah to warn the Ninevites to repent. They did repent with fasting and wearing of sackcloth. Thus, God could justly forgive them and not issue harsh consequences against them. But now, they were behaving very abusively one again.
“God is jealous, and the Lord avenges. The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries. He reserves wrath for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts. The mountains quake before Him, the hills melt, and the earth heaves at His presence, yes, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him.” Nahum 1:2-6
God’s jealousy and vengeance are rooted in love. He deals with covenant breakers. In 2 Corinthians 11:2, Paul wrote of the love of God in his heart for his fellow Christians, “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.” In other words, God is jealous of our affections. He knows if we are truly committed to our relationship with Him, or if another “lover” means more to us than Him. In Matthew 22:36-40, according to Jesus, the first and great commandment is to love God. How is that we forget that? The second great commandment is to love people.
God is patient and longsuffering with us, but ultimately, He is a just Judge. He must judge sin in accordance with His law recorded in the Bible. Law breaking (sin) must be atoned for by blood to avoid the law’s penalties. Hebrews 9:22 says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”
In the Old Testament, God required animal sacrifices to atone for sin. These sacrifices had to be done repeatedly. Hebrews 7:27 and 1 Peter 3:18 verify that the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross for humanity’s sin was a single, complete, and sufficient act that dealt with sin once and for all. 1 Peter 3:18 says “For Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” Hebrews 6:18 confirms that those who have fled to Christ for refuge and who have placed their hope in Christ have a sure and steadfast anchor for their soul.
In Nahum 1:3-6, God is coming to Ninevah the capital of the Assyrian Empire as a whirlwind (tornado) with intense heat that dries up water sources. Flowers shall wilt. Mountains shall quake. Fires shall breakout. Rocks shall be dislodged from their secure places. Nahum asks the Ninevites, “Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure His fierce anger?”
“The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who trust in Him. But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, and darkness will pursue His enemies.” Nahum 1:7-8
Who is wise? Let him or her flee to the Lord for refuge. Trust in the Lord! 1 Peter 5:10 says, “The God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” The God of all grace comes through for those who trust in Him. Hold onto Jesus! When the storm is over, you will be alright.
“What do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time. For while tangled like thorns, and while drunken like drunkards, they shall be devoured like stubble fully dried. From you comes forth one who plots evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor.” Nahum 1:9-11
In Matthew 25:45-46, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ In this passage, these people did not care for the hungry, the thirsty, the foreigner, the naked, the sick or the prisoner among them. The Lord took their calloused hearts towards the suffering of others personally. Of them, He said, “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
In Nahum, the Lord issued severe judgments on the Ninevites for their violence. In Matthew, the Lord issued severe judgments on those who had no concern for the suffering of others.
“Thus says the Lord: though they are safe, and likewise many, yet in this manner they will be cut down when he passes through. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more; for now I will break off his yoke from you and burst your bonds apart.” Nahum 1:12-13
Proverbs 11:21 says, “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.” The Ninevites were many. The Israelites were few. But God assured Israel that He would deliver them from Ninevah’s afflictions, yokes and bonds.
“The Lord has given a command concerning you: “Your name shall be perpetuated no longer. Out of the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the molded image. I will dig your grave, for you are vile.” Nahum 1:14
The Ninevites were proud to be Ninevites, but the Lord was going to reduce respect for their name. He was going to cut down that which they idolized. He would bring them to the grave.
“Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace! O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, perform your vows. For the wicked one shall no more pass through you; he is utterly cut off.” Nahum 1:15
The Lord encourages His people in the land of Judah to hold on. Help is on the way. They should keep their feasts and vows to the Lord. In 2 Kings 19, God sent one angel to deliver Judah’s capital city of Jerusalem from Ninevah’s mighty army. King Hezekiah of Judah and the Prophet Isaiah had fled to the Lord for refuge. They prayed to God. God answered their prayer by sending one angel. That single angel slew 185,000 enemy soldiers. And after that, when the King of Assyria was back in Ninevah worshipping his false god, his sons slew him.
“He who scatters has come up before your face. Man the fort! Watch the road! Strengthen your flanks! Fortify your power mightily. For the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob like the excellence of Israel, for the emptiers have emptied them out and ruined their vine branches.” Nahum 2:1-2
Nahum urges the Ninevites to prepare for an invasion. God allowed the Ninevites to chastise Jacob (Judah) and Israel (the ten tribes) for a season, but now, it is Ninevah’s turn. Soon, Babylon shall attack and defeat them.
“The shields of his mighty men are made red the valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots come with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the spears are brandished. The chariots rage in the streets. They jostle one another in the broad roads. They seem like torches. They run like lightning. He remembers his nobles. They stumble in their walk. They make haste to her walls, and the defense is prepared. The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved. It is decreed: she shall be led away captive. She shall be brought up, and her maidservants shall lead her as with the voice of doves, beating their breasts.” Nahum 2:3-7
Calvin wrote that the Medo-Babylonian soldiers dyed their bull’s-hide shields red to strike terror in the enemy, and to camouflage blood stains from their wounds on those shields. The Assyrians needed to prepare for war with Medo-Babylonian army.
“Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water, now they flee away. ‘Halt! Halt!’ they cry, but no one turns back. Take spoil of silver! Take spoil of gold! There is no end of treasure, or wealth of every desirable prize. She is empty, desolate, and waste! The heart melts, and the knees shake. Much pain is in every side, and all their faces are drained of color.” Nahum 2:8-10
Ninevah’s silver, gold, treasures, wealth and all their desirable prizes shall vanish like water during a drought. The invading army will take away the idols that they built their lives upon..
“Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion walked, the lioness and lion’s cub, and no one made them afraid? The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, killed for his lionesses, filled his caves with prey, and his dens with flesh. Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.” Nahum 2:11-12
The metaphor God uses to describe the Ninevites is of a pride of lions. They teamed up as lions do to hunt, capture, and consume prey. They literally ate good people for lunch. The Lord told them, ”Behold, I am against you.” “Nineveh enjoyed its status as a power-center of the world and gloried in the fact that the voice of her messengers commanded attention in palaces all over the world. That day would come to an end under the judgment of God.” [1]
“Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. Its victim never departs. The noise of a whip and the noise of rattling wheels, of galloping horses, of clattering chariots! Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear. There is a multitude of slain, a great number of bodies, countless corpses—they stumble over the corpses—because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, the mistress of sorceries, who sells nations through her harlotries, and families through her sorceries.” Nahum 3:1-4
Ninevah’s fall is symbolic of what happens to all evil empires. In Revelation 17:1-2, an angel showed John the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” Revelation 18:23 says of this empire, “By your sorcery all the nations were deceived.” God characterizes idolatrous empires as harlots and sorceresses. These evil empires have expiration dates while God’s kingdom lasts forever.
“Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts. I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame. I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle. It shall come to pass that all who look upon you will flee from you, and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her?’ Where shall I seek comforters for you?” Nahum 3:5-7
In Luke 8:17, Jesus said, “Nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.” Skirts over the face and nakedness speak of having one’s sin exposed to everyone. Ninevah’s pride was gross in the spiritual realm and in due season it would appear vile in the physical realm. People would flee from them.
“Are you better than No Amon that was situated by the River, that had the waters around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was boundless; Put and Lubim were your helpers. Yet she was carried away. She went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.” Nahum 3:8-10
No-Amon is the Egyptian name for Thebes in Upper Egypt. Amon was the Egyptian version of the Greek god Jupiter. It was especially worshipped there. The Egyptian inscriptions call the god Amon-re, that is, Amon the Sun. He is represented as a human figure with a ram’s head. The blow inflicted on No-Amon described in Nahum 3:8-10 was probably by the Assyria. As Thebes was defeated by Assyria, so Assyrian Nineveh shall be defeated by Babylon. [JFBC]
“You also will be drunk. You will be hidden. You also will seek refuge from the enemy. All your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs. If they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. Surely, your people in your midst are women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies. Fire shall devour the bars of your gates.” Nahum 3:11-13
They shall drink the cup of God’s wrath. The Lord uses the metaphor of ripe figs falling off of fig tree to describe how Ninevah’s enemies will shake them and swallow up their produce. Their soldiers will be like women. Women were not trained for war. Ninevah’s army would be ill-prepared to fight the Babylonians. Their city would be destroyed by fire.
“Draw your water for the siege! Fortify your strongholds! Go into the clay and tread the mortar! Make strong the brick kiln! There the fire will devour you, the sword will cut you off. It will eat you up like a locust. Make yourself many—like the locust! Make yourself many—like the swarming locusts! You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven. The locust plunders and flies away. Your commanders are like swarming locusts, and your generals like great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges on a cold day. When the sun rises they flee away, and the place where they are is not known. Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria. Your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one gathers them. Your injury has no healing your wound is severe. All who hear news of you will clap their hands over you, for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?” Nahum 3:14-19
The Lord urges the Assyrians to prepare for battle. Preserve water! Make bricks to fortify the walls! Multiply your soldiers until they are like a massive swarm of locusts. But guess what? Your soldiers will flee in the day of battle and not be found. The King of Assyria’s shepherds will be asleep while on duty. His nobles will rest in the dust – die. The city’s people shall flee to the mountains for refuge. Their wound shall be incurable. News of Ninevah’s downfall will be good news to their neighbors.
Nahum’s prophecy is not good news for Ninevah. Usually, preachers try to end their messages on a positive note. Not so with Nahum. He left his readers thinking about sin and its unwanted consequences. We can choose sin, but we cannot choose sin’s consequences. I trust that some people in Ninevah took Nahum’s message from God to heart and repented. Otherwise, why would God have taken the time to write to them?
“Heavenly Father, please forgive us for failing to love You and people as we should. We place all our failures under the atoning blood of Your Son Jesus Christ for You forgiveness. Holy Spirit please fill us with love for God and people. We rely on You, not ourselves. In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.”
[1] Enduring Word Commentary
[JFBC] – Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
The Lord Jesus has graced me with revelations from the Book of Jeremiah that are helpful to better understanding the relevance of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am in the midst of preparing 54 video-recorded presentations, one for each chapter of Jeremiah, plus an intro and conclusion presentation. When the presentations are done, I plan to publish them on YouTube. I also welcome invitations to share these revelations in-person. In the meantime, I publish articles online, intercede for the peoples of the nations, and say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Saved by God’s Grace in Christ Jesus
“Hear now what the Lord says: ‘Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, O you mountains, the Lord’s complaint, and you strong foundations of the earth; for the Lord has a complaint against His people, and He will contend with Israel. O My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against Me. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt. I redeemed you from the house of bondage. And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Acacia Grove to Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord.” Micah 6:1-5
Micah pleads the Lord’s case before the mountains and hills. Mountains and hills tower over people and symbolize the arrogant attitude of people who think they are too great to need the God who created them. In Matthew 17:20, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Micah had faith in the power of God’s Word, so He spoke.
Israel’s crimes against God were done in public, so His indictments against them are proclaimed publicly. “Sin begets a controversy between God and man.” In Micah 6:3, He asks Israel, “O my people, what have I done to you?” [Matthew Henry Commentary]
In Micah 6:4-5, God reviews Israel’s case. He brought them out of bondage. He sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before them. Moses was God’s prophet (Deuteronomy 34:10). Aaron was God’s prophet (Exodus 7:1). Miriam was God’s prophetess (Exodus 15:20). Praise God for providing anointed teachers and leaders! The Lord also restrained the greedy-for-pay-prophet Balaam from placing a curse on Israel (Numbers 23:8).
What kind of settlement was the Lord seeking from Israel?
“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with 1,000’s of rams, 10,000 rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:6-8
The Mosaic animal sacrifices foreshadowed Christ’s better sacrifice described in Hebrews 10:1. They did not need to offer their firstborn for their sin because God had a plan to do that for them. He wanted them to behave justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Him.
“The Lord’s voice cries to the city—wisdom shall see Your Name. Hear the rod! Who has appointed it? Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is an abomination? Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales, and with the bag of deceitful weights? For her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.” Micah 6:9-12
They did not walk justly with God. They grew rich via violent methods. They developed devious deceptions for the sake of stockpiling temporary treasures. They were un-Christlike.
“Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you by making you desolate because of your sins. You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Hunger shall be in your midst. You may carry some away but shall not save them; and what you do rescue I will give over to the sword. You shall sow, but not reap. You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil, and make sweet wine, but not drink wine. For the statutes of Omri are kept. All the works of Ahab’s house are done. And you walk in their counsels that I may make you a desolation and your inhabitants a hissing. Therefore you shall bear the reproach of My people.” Micah 6:13-16
The penalties for their crimes included illness, dissatisfaction, emptiness, a sword (justice) pursuing them, and insults. They are not anointed with oil and drink no sweet wine. Anointing oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Wine is symbolic of the atoning blood of Christ. While deceiving others, they deceived themselves out of the best of God’s treasures, namely, Himself.
What were the statues of Omri? What were the works of Ahab? 1 Kings 16:25-30 says, “Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him. ...And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.” 1 Kings 21:25-26 says, “There was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. ...And he did very abominably in following idols...” These two kings of Israel did evil and expected those under them to do the same.
“Woe is me! For I am like those who gather summer fruits, like those who glean vintage grapes. There is no cluster to eat of the first-ripe fruit which my soul desires. The faithful man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood. Every man hunts his brother with a net. That they may successfully do evil with both hands—the prince asks for gifts, the judge seeks a bribe, and the great man utters his evil desire. So they scheme together. The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchman and your punishment comes. Now shall be their perplexity.” Micah 7:1-4
Micah embodies the Lord’s feelings. He wanted to find good fruit, but there was none. Was anyone faithful? Was anyone upright? No. They tried to fill the God-shaped hole in their hearts with material things. They were willing to kill to fill it. On top of wages, government workers wanted gifts and bribes. As thorns tear open skin, these leaders inflicted physical, emotional, mental and spiritual pain on people. “The day of your watchmen comes” refers to a coming invasion. Thus, the divided house of Israel was about to fall.
“Do not trust in a friend. Do not put your confidence in a companion. Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom. For son dishonors father, daughter rises against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies are the men of his own household. Therefore I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.” Micah 7:5-7
What happens when people break covenant with God? The answer is that their relationships breakdown with one another. Apart from God, our best deeds still stem from selfish motives. What did idolatry do for Isreal? It made them reliable. Reliable in what way? You could count on everyone to betray you. Thus, Micah looked to the Lord. The Lord would not betray him.
“Do not rejoice over me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light. I will see His righteousness. Then she who is my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, ‘Where is the Lord your God?’ My eyes will see her. Now, she will be trampled down like mud in the streets.” Micah 7:8-10
From Israel’s outwards circumstances it looked like the Lord had completely abandoned them, but no, He was disciplining them because He loved them and wanted to bring back to Himself. Micah urges His people’s enemies not to rejoice over them. Even in darkness, God is lighting up among them. God is doing what is right for Israel. God will help Israel to rise again. Those who previously mocked Israel for her humbled estate will eventually be trampled like mud.
Are you being mistreated? James 1:4 advises, “Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Go deeper with God!
In Revelation 12:10, Satan is called the accuser of brothers. He accuses them before God day and night. In Zechariah 3:1-4, the Lord showed Zechariah a vision of “Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord.” Satan was standing at his right hand to oppose him. The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan!” Joshua was clothed with filthy garments. The Lord said, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” The devil delights in magnifying all that is wrong about us. God rebukes the devil and casts him away from us.
In Job 1:11, Satan said to God in regards to Job, “Stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” In Job 1:12, the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only do not lay a hand on his person.” The Lord did not hurt Job, the devil did. Job 1:22 says, “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.” The devil falsely accused Job. He said that Job would deny God if afflicted, but Job did not deny God. God’s grace was sufficient to keep Job’s faith in Him strong.
In Luke 22:31-32, Satan wanted to sift Peter. Jesus told Peter that He had prayed for him that his faith would not fail. Jesus told Peter, “When you have returned to Me, strengthen your brothers.” That’s what Job did. In Job 42:8-10, after Job’s trial ended, he prayed for his friends. I am so glad that Jesus prays for us. James 5:11 says, “You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”
“Shepherd Your people with Your staff, the flock of Your heritage, who dwell solitarily in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in days of old.” Micah 7:14
Micah asks the Lord to shepherd His people. They are His portion in the world. They were now a desolate people in captivity. They felt lonely and afraid like sheep in a woodland where wild beasts lurk. Micah asked God to feed them in Bashan and Gilead (green pastures) once again.
“As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them wonders. The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might. They shall put their hand over their mouth. Their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent. They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord our God and shall fear because of You.” Micah 7:15-17
Ephesians 3:20 says that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. Micah prayed that God would feed them in the pastures of Bashan and Gilead. God promised to do that and more. Their deliverance from Babylon would be wonderful like unto their deliverance out of Egypt. Miracles would happen!
Those who previously insulted them would shut their mouths. They would stop their ears. Good news about Israel was unwelcome news to them. God would bring them down to the dust like a snake crawling on its belly. The fear of God would enter them.
“Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old.” Micah 7:18-20
Who forgives sins like our God?
God’s grace makes Christianity distinct from all other religions. While other faiths have concepts of divine favor or mercy, Christians believe salvation is based on the merits of Christ. It’s God's action (through Jesus) that saves us from the penalties of sin, not our human effort or merit. Salvation is not earned. It is a gift of God. While many religions focus on doing good deeds, rituals, or following laws to achieve liberation or favor, Christianity is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. John 1:16-17 declares, “For from His [Christ’s] fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Jesus died on the cross for your sins. He resurrected from the dead to demonstrate His power over death. He is alive today and relates with people via His Word (the Bible) and via His Holy Spirit.
Micah 7:19 says that God casts all our sins into the depths of the sea. In Hebrews 10:17, the Lord says. “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” Praise God! Saved by God’s grace in Christ Jesus! Amen.
Micah pleads the Lord’s case before the mountains and hills. Mountains and hills tower over people and symbolize the arrogant attitude of people who think they are too great to need the God who created them. In Matthew 17:20, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Micah had faith in the power of God’s Word, so He spoke.
Israel’s crimes against God were done in public, so His indictments against them are proclaimed publicly. “Sin begets a controversy between God and man.” In Micah 6:3, He asks Israel, “O my people, what have I done to you?” [Matthew Henry Commentary]
In Micah 6:4-5, God reviews Israel’s case. He brought them out of bondage. He sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before them. Moses was God’s prophet (Deuteronomy 34:10). Aaron was God’s prophet (Exodus 7:1). Miriam was God’s prophetess (Exodus 15:20). Praise God for providing anointed teachers and leaders! The Lord also restrained the greedy-for-pay-prophet Balaam from placing a curse on Israel (Numbers 23:8).
What kind of settlement was the Lord seeking from Israel?
“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with 1,000’s of rams, 10,000 rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:6-8
The Mosaic animal sacrifices foreshadowed Christ’s better sacrifice described in Hebrews 10:1. They did not need to offer their firstborn for their sin because God had a plan to do that for them. He wanted them to behave justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Him.
“The Lord’s voice cries to the city—wisdom shall see Your Name. Hear the rod! Who has appointed it? Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is an abomination? Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales, and with the bag of deceitful weights? For her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.” Micah 6:9-12
They did not walk justly with God. They grew rich via violent methods. They developed devious deceptions for the sake of stockpiling temporary treasures. They were un-Christlike.
“Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you by making you desolate because of your sins. You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Hunger shall be in your midst. You may carry some away but shall not save them; and what you do rescue I will give over to the sword. You shall sow, but not reap. You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil, and make sweet wine, but not drink wine. For the statutes of Omri are kept. All the works of Ahab’s house are done. And you walk in their counsels that I may make you a desolation and your inhabitants a hissing. Therefore you shall bear the reproach of My people.” Micah 6:13-16
The penalties for their crimes included illness, dissatisfaction, emptiness, a sword (justice) pursuing them, and insults. They are not anointed with oil and drink no sweet wine. Anointing oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Wine is symbolic of the atoning blood of Christ. While deceiving others, they deceived themselves out of the best of God’s treasures, namely, Himself.
What were the statues of Omri? What were the works of Ahab? 1 Kings 16:25-30 says, “Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him. ...And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.” 1 Kings 21:25-26 says, “There was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. ...And he did very abominably in following idols...” These two kings of Israel did evil and expected those under them to do the same.
“Woe is me! For I am like those who gather summer fruits, like those who glean vintage grapes. There is no cluster to eat of the first-ripe fruit which my soul desires. The faithful man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood. Every man hunts his brother with a net. That they may successfully do evil with both hands—the prince asks for gifts, the judge seeks a bribe, and the great man utters his evil desire. So they scheme together. The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchman and your punishment comes. Now shall be their perplexity.” Micah 7:1-4
Micah embodies the Lord’s feelings. He wanted to find good fruit, but there was none. Was anyone faithful? Was anyone upright? No. They tried to fill the God-shaped hole in their hearts with material things. They were willing to kill to fill it. On top of wages, government workers wanted gifts and bribes. As thorns tear open skin, these leaders inflicted physical, emotional, mental and spiritual pain on people. “The day of your watchmen comes” refers to a coming invasion. Thus, the divided house of Israel was about to fall.
“Do not trust in a friend. Do not put your confidence in a companion. Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom. For son dishonors father, daughter rises against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies are the men of his own household. Therefore I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.” Micah 7:5-7
What happens when people break covenant with God? The answer is that their relationships breakdown with one another. Apart from God, our best deeds still stem from selfish motives. What did idolatry do for Isreal? It made them reliable. Reliable in what way? You could count on everyone to betray you. Thus, Micah looked to the Lord. The Lord would not betray him.
“Do not rejoice over me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light. I will see His righteousness. Then she who is my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, ‘Where is the Lord your God?’ My eyes will see her. Now, she will be trampled down like mud in the streets.” Micah 7:8-10
From Israel’s outwards circumstances it looked like the Lord had completely abandoned them, but no, He was disciplining them because He loved them and wanted to bring back to Himself. Micah urges His people’s enemies not to rejoice over them. Even in darkness, God is lighting up among them. God is doing what is right for Israel. God will help Israel to rise again. Those who previously mocked Israel for her humbled estate will eventually be trampled like mud.
Are you being mistreated? James 1:4 advises, “Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Go deeper with God!
In Revelation 12:10, Satan is called the accuser of brothers. He accuses them before God day and night. In Zechariah 3:1-4, the Lord showed Zechariah a vision of “Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord.” Satan was standing at his right hand to oppose him. The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan!” Joshua was clothed with filthy garments. The Lord said, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” The devil delights in magnifying all that is wrong about us. God rebukes the devil and casts him away from us.
In Job 1:11, Satan said to God in regards to Job, “Stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” In Job 1:12, the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only do not lay a hand on his person.” The Lord did not hurt Job, the devil did. Job 1:22 says, “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.” The devil falsely accused Job. He said that Job would deny God if afflicted, but Job did not deny God. God’s grace was sufficient to keep Job’s faith in Him strong.
In Luke 22:31-32, Satan wanted to sift Peter. Jesus told Peter that He had prayed for him that his faith would not fail. Jesus told Peter, “When you have returned to Me, strengthen your brothers.” That’s what Job did. In Job 42:8-10, after Job’s trial ended, he prayed for his friends. I am so glad that Jesus prays for us. James 5:11 says, “You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”
“Shepherd Your people with Your staff, the flock of Your heritage, who dwell solitarily in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in days of old.” Micah 7:14
Micah asks the Lord to shepherd His people. They are His portion in the world. They were now a desolate people in captivity. They felt lonely and afraid like sheep in a woodland where wild beasts lurk. Micah asked God to feed them in Bashan and Gilead (green pastures) once again.
“As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them wonders. The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might. They shall put their hand over their mouth. Their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent. They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord our God and shall fear because of You.” Micah 7:15-17
Ephesians 3:20 says that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. Micah prayed that God would feed them in the pastures of Bashan and Gilead. God promised to do that and more. Their deliverance from Babylon would be wonderful like unto their deliverance out of Egypt. Miracles would happen!
Those who previously insulted them would shut their mouths. They would stop their ears. Good news about Israel was unwelcome news to them. God would bring them down to the dust like a snake crawling on its belly. The fear of God would enter them.
“Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old.” Micah 7:18-20
Who forgives sins like our God?
God’s grace makes Christianity distinct from all other religions. While other faiths have concepts of divine favor or mercy, Christians believe salvation is based on the merits of Christ. It’s God's action (through Jesus) that saves us from the penalties of sin, not our human effort or merit. Salvation is not earned. It is a gift of God. While many religions focus on doing good deeds, rituals, or following laws to achieve liberation or favor, Christianity is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. John 1:16-17 declares, “For from His [Christ’s] fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Jesus died on the cross for your sins. He resurrected from the dead to demonstrate His power over death. He is alive today and relates with people via His Word (the Bible) and via His Holy Spirit.
Micah 7:19 says that God casts all our sins into the depths of the sea. In Hebrews 10:17, the Lord says. “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” Praise God! Saved by God’s grace in Christ Jesus! Amen.
The Lord Jesus has graced me with revelations from the Book of Jeremiah that are helpful to better understanding the relevance of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am in the midst of preparing 54 video-recorded presentations, one for each chapter of Jeremiah, plus an intro and conclusion presentation. When the presentations are done, I plan to publish them on YouTube. I also welcome invitations to share these revelations in-person. In the meantime, I publish articles online, intercede for the peoples of the nations, and say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Best to Trust in the Lord
When princes, priests, and prophets seek their own things and not the things of God, the fear is that the nation shall fall to rise no more. However, for Israel, the Lord resurrects her from her fallen state. In the last words of the foregoing chapter, the mountain of the house was desolate. In the first words of this chapter, the mountain of the Lord’s house is flourishing. It has become a popular place for people of the nations to learn God’s Word.
During a Holy Land tour, tourists visit places where Bible narratives took place. The tour that I took ended the at the Shrine of the Book. The Shrine of the Book contains ancient scrolls with God’s Word on them. For example, the scroll of Isaiah is there. It measures 8 meters (26.25 feet) long. The Aleppo Codex is also there. It is the earliest known Hebrew manuscript of the Jewish Old Testament. It dates from the early 10th century. [1]
In Romans 11:1-4, Paul confirmed that the Lord had certainly not cast off His people Israel. Paul was an Israelite believer in Christ. Even when there was rampant idolatry in Israel during the days of Elijah, God had reserved a “remnant of 7,000 men who did not bow the knee to Baal.” In Romans 11:5, Paul added, “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” God’s grace drew Jewish people to Yeshua Mashiach in Paul’s day and He is still drawing Jews to Him today, and the best is yet to come.
God used Israel’s previous rejection of Messiah to open the door for Gentiles to be grafted into the metaphoric Olive Tree that symbolizes Israel.
“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion the law shall go forth and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all people walk each in the name of his god, but we will walk in the Name of the Lord our God forever and ever.” Micah 4:1-5
In Isaiah 2:1-4, the Lord gave to Isaiah the same prophecy that He gave here in Micah 4:1-3.
The mountain of the Lord refers to Christ the Rock which not even the gates of hell shall prevail against (Matthew 16:18). His kingdom shall be exalted above the hills, that is, above all other kingdoms. His kingdom is a city on a hill, which cannot be hid (Matthew 5:14). According to Haggai 2:9, “The glory of this latter house is greater than that of the former. The mountain of the Lord also refers to Jerusalem, which becomes a holy city in Revelation 21:2.
“He will teach us of his ways, we will walk in his paths.” It was in Jerusalem that Christ preached and wrought miracles. There, He died, rose again, and ascended. There, His Spirit poured out. It began at Jerusalem and flowed like streams of water to the people of the world. Ministers of God’s Word went forth from Jerusalem to disciple all nations. Thanks to Jesus, people from the nations are now streaming to Jerusalem.
“They shall beat their swords into plough-shares.” “Those who, before their conversion, did injuries, and would bear none, after their conversion can bear injuries, but will do none.” [MHC]
A Christian author named Tertullian (155–220 AD) noted that Christians were well known for their love for one another. They were ready to die for each other. They cared for the poor, sick, and imprisoned among them. [MHC]
“Nation shall no longer lift up sword against nation.” The Gospel doesn’t make cowards out of people, it makes people peaceable. They shall sit safely every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, enjoying the fruit of them. [MHC] Instead of coveting what belongs to others, they rejoice in what God has already provided for them.
“For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.” No word of God shall fall to the ground. What He has spoken by His word He will do by His providence and grace.
“In that day, says the Lord, I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast and those whom I have afflicted. I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcast a strong nation. So the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever. And you, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, even the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4:6-8
The people that no one projected to survive, namely the weak among them, did survive by God’s grace. Ephesians 2:8 says, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 says, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him.”
In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, Paul sought deliverance from a messenger of Satan that tormented him. He prayed three times for God to remove it. The Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” After that response from the Lord, Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
In Micah 4:7, the Lord promised to make out of the lame, outcast and afflicted people a remnant for Himself. A strong nation!
In Matthew 10:6-8, Christ commanded His disciples, saying, “Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”
Jesus and His apostles healed the outcasts of Israel. In Matthew 11:4-5, when John the Baptist sent messengers to Jesus to ask if He were the Messiah, Jesus said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see. The blind see and the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached to them.”
“Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in your midst? Has your counselor perished? For pangs have seized you like a woman in labor. Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in birth pangs. For now you shall go forth from the city, you shall dwell in the field, and to Babylon you shall go. There you shall be delivered. There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.” Micah 4:9-10
In Micah’s day, the Assyrians took the northern tribes of Israel into captivity, but Jerusalem was not conquered by Assyria. In Isaiah 37:14-38, King Hezekiah and Isaiah prayed to the Lord, and the Lord sent one angel to slay 185,000 soldiers of Assyria’s army. The Assyrians were defeated. However, in Micah 4:10, the Lord assures Jerusalem that they too will go through the birth pangs of being carried away into captivity albeit to Babylon not to Assyria. He would also redeem them from Babylon in due season.
“Now also many nations have gathered against you, who say, ‘Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.’ But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, nor do they understand His counsel. For He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hooves bronze. You shall beat in pieces many peoples. I will consecrate their gain to the Lord, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.” Micah 4:11-13
The nations that shall gather against Judah will consist of Babylon’s armies and their allies. Judah’s neighbors did not choose wisely when they joined with Babylon against Judah. The Lord compared them with sheaves to be gathered and threshed. This prophecy seemed ludicrous at the time but it came to pass. Judah did eventually return to their land and become strong. The nations that joined against them became weak.
“Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops! He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.” Micah 5:1
It seems that the Lord is taunting the nations who want to attack His people. Daring them to strike Israel’s judge. God has a plan to rescue His people from their abuse.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the 1,000’s of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” Micah 5:2
God chose a little town in Judah. You could look at a 1,000 towns of Judah and this one was smaller than all of them. Bethlehem was significant because it was the town where King David was born. It is significant because it is the town where Messiah was to be born. Jesus is the ruler to come forth from God. He is from of old, even from eternity past, and He is the everlasting ruler, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
“Therefore He shall give them up, until the time that she who is in labor has given birth. Then, the remnant of His brethren shall return to the children of Israel. And He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the Name of the Lord His God. And they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth.” Micah 5:3-4
Israel’s deliverance from sorrow will synchronize with the appearance of the Messiah as her Redeemer. Romans 11:26 says, “So all Israel will be saved, just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” He did save those from among them who received Him, and He sanctified them by giving them His Holy Spirit.
“He shall stand” as a shepherd stands to survey and guard His flock on every side. He feeds the flock in whose strength? The Lord’s strength!
“He shall stand” in the majesty of the Name of the Lord. Hebrews 1:1-3 says of Jesus, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the Word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hallelujah! What a Savior!
“They shall abide,” namely, the remnant of His people who love and serve Him.
“He [Jesus] shall be great to the ends of the earth.” And the remnant shall be strong in Him.
“And this One shall be peace when the Assyrian comes into our land, and when he treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princely men. They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances. Thus, He shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land and when he treads within our borders.” Micah 5:5-6
The One who is peace is Messiah. He was with King Hezekiah and the Prophet Isaiah by His Spirit when the Assyrian army surrounded Jerusalem. In Isaiah 36:21, He gave them peace not to answer the bullies when they were mocking them. In Isaiah 37:14-38, they laid the boastings of their enemies on the altar of God, and asked God to hear and act on their prayer. He did.
Ephesians 2:14 says of Jesus, “He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.” In Luke 2:14, when Christ was born, a multitude of the heavenly host praised God and said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” The Lord advises us in 1 Peter 5:7 to cast all our care on Him, for He cares for us.
Assyria represents bullies. Bullies shall be destroyed when Messiah returns.
“Seven and eight shepherds” — “seven and eight” is an idiom for a full and sufficient number.
“Princely men” literally means “anointed men” such as the apostles were. Their anointing, or consecration and qualification to office was by the Holy Spirit [Calvin].
“Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, that tarry for no man nor wait for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, who, if he passes through, both treads down and tears in pieces and none can deliver. Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off.” Micah 5:7-9
The remnant of Jacob which the Lord brought together from among the survivors were going to multiply and be like dew and showers that help the nation to be productive.
Judah will be “as a lion,” not in respect to its cruelty, but in its power of striking terror into all opponents. Under the Maccabees, the Jews acquired Idumea, Samaria, and parts of the territory of Ammon and Moab. But this was only the beginning, more was yet to come. [JFBC]
“And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that I will cut off your horses from your midst and destroy your chariots. I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds. I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no soothsayers. Your carved images I will also cut off, and your sacred pillars from your midst. You shall no more worship the work of your hands. I will pluck your wooden images from your midst. Thus, I will destroy your cities. And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury on the nations that have not heard.” Micah 5:10-15
The words above harken back to Micah 4:3 where the Lord promises that swords will be turned into plowshares and spears be turned into pruning hooks. The Lord will shift their reliance from idols, weapons of war, sorceries, soothsayers and fortress cities to reliance on Him.
How many people of war-based economies believe that weapons of war are their source of peace and strength? In Daniel 5:30, King Belshazzar of Babylon believed his nation’s defenses were invincible . He believed that right up until the night an invading army was inside his gates through a scheme that he did not perceive possible. His mighty kingdom ended in one day.
In Jeremiah 17:5-8, “Thus says the Lord: cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.”
Psalm 118:8-9 says, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.”
In Matthew 6:33, Jesus taught us to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. God is God! He created the whole universe by speaking words. He is more than able to meet our every need. Glory to God!
[1] www.seetheholyland.net/shrine-of-the-book
[MHC] = Matthew Henry Commentary
[JFBC] = Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
During a Holy Land tour, tourists visit places where Bible narratives took place. The tour that I took ended the at the Shrine of the Book. The Shrine of the Book contains ancient scrolls with God’s Word on them. For example, the scroll of Isaiah is there. It measures 8 meters (26.25 feet) long. The Aleppo Codex is also there. It is the earliest known Hebrew manuscript of the Jewish Old Testament. It dates from the early 10th century. [1]
In Romans 11:1-4, Paul confirmed that the Lord had certainly not cast off His people Israel. Paul was an Israelite believer in Christ. Even when there was rampant idolatry in Israel during the days of Elijah, God had reserved a “remnant of 7,000 men who did not bow the knee to Baal.” In Romans 11:5, Paul added, “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” God’s grace drew Jewish people to Yeshua Mashiach in Paul’s day and He is still drawing Jews to Him today, and the best is yet to come.
God used Israel’s previous rejection of Messiah to open the door for Gentiles to be grafted into the metaphoric Olive Tree that symbolizes Israel.
“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion the law shall go forth and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all people walk each in the name of his god, but we will walk in the Name of the Lord our God forever and ever.” Micah 4:1-5
In Isaiah 2:1-4, the Lord gave to Isaiah the same prophecy that He gave here in Micah 4:1-3.
The mountain of the Lord refers to Christ the Rock which not even the gates of hell shall prevail against (Matthew 16:18). His kingdom shall be exalted above the hills, that is, above all other kingdoms. His kingdom is a city on a hill, which cannot be hid (Matthew 5:14). According to Haggai 2:9, “The glory of this latter house is greater than that of the former. The mountain of the Lord also refers to Jerusalem, which becomes a holy city in Revelation 21:2.
“He will teach us of his ways, we will walk in his paths.” It was in Jerusalem that Christ preached and wrought miracles. There, He died, rose again, and ascended. There, His Spirit poured out. It began at Jerusalem and flowed like streams of water to the people of the world. Ministers of God’s Word went forth from Jerusalem to disciple all nations. Thanks to Jesus, people from the nations are now streaming to Jerusalem.
“They shall beat their swords into plough-shares.” “Those who, before their conversion, did injuries, and would bear none, after their conversion can bear injuries, but will do none.” [MHC]
A Christian author named Tertullian (155–220 AD) noted that Christians were well known for their love for one another. They were ready to die for each other. They cared for the poor, sick, and imprisoned among them. [MHC]
“Nation shall no longer lift up sword against nation.” The Gospel doesn’t make cowards out of people, it makes people peaceable. They shall sit safely every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, enjoying the fruit of them. [MHC] Instead of coveting what belongs to others, they rejoice in what God has already provided for them.
“For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.” No word of God shall fall to the ground. What He has spoken by His word He will do by His providence and grace.
“In that day, says the Lord, I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast and those whom I have afflicted. I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcast a strong nation. So the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever. And you, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, even the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4:6-8
The people that no one projected to survive, namely the weak among them, did survive by God’s grace. Ephesians 2:8 says, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 says, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him.”
In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, Paul sought deliverance from a messenger of Satan that tormented him. He prayed three times for God to remove it. The Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” After that response from the Lord, Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
In Micah 4:7, the Lord promised to make out of the lame, outcast and afflicted people a remnant for Himself. A strong nation!
In Matthew 10:6-8, Christ commanded His disciples, saying, “Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”
Jesus and His apostles healed the outcasts of Israel. In Matthew 11:4-5, when John the Baptist sent messengers to Jesus to ask if He were the Messiah, Jesus said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see. The blind see and the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached to them.”
“Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in your midst? Has your counselor perished? For pangs have seized you like a woman in labor. Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in birth pangs. For now you shall go forth from the city, you shall dwell in the field, and to Babylon you shall go. There you shall be delivered. There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.” Micah 4:9-10
In Micah’s day, the Assyrians took the northern tribes of Israel into captivity, but Jerusalem was not conquered by Assyria. In Isaiah 37:14-38, King Hezekiah and Isaiah prayed to the Lord, and the Lord sent one angel to slay 185,000 soldiers of Assyria’s army. The Assyrians were defeated. However, in Micah 4:10, the Lord assures Jerusalem that they too will go through the birth pangs of being carried away into captivity albeit to Babylon not to Assyria. He would also redeem them from Babylon in due season.
“Now also many nations have gathered against you, who say, ‘Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.’ But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, nor do they understand His counsel. For He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hooves bronze. You shall beat in pieces many peoples. I will consecrate their gain to the Lord, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.” Micah 4:11-13
The nations that shall gather against Judah will consist of Babylon’s armies and their allies. Judah’s neighbors did not choose wisely when they joined with Babylon against Judah. The Lord compared them with sheaves to be gathered and threshed. This prophecy seemed ludicrous at the time but it came to pass. Judah did eventually return to their land and become strong. The nations that joined against them became weak.
“Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops! He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.” Micah 5:1
It seems that the Lord is taunting the nations who want to attack His people. Daring them to strike Israel’s judge. God has a plan to rescue His people from their abuse.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the 1,000’s of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” Micah 5:2
God chose a little town in Judah. You could look at a 1,000 towns of Judah and this one was smaller than all of them. Bethlehem was significant because it was the town where King David was born. It is significant because it is the town where Messiah was to be born. Jesus is the ruler to come forth from God. He is from of old, even from eternity past, and He is the everlasting ruler, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
“Therefore He shall give them up, until the time that she who is in labor has given birth. Then, the remnant of His brethren shall return to the children of Israel. And He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the Name of the Lord His God. And they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth.” Micah 5:3-4
Israel’s deliverance from sorrow will synchronize with the appearance of the Messiah as her Redeemer. Romans 11:26 says, “So all Israel will be saved, just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” He did save those from among them who received Him, and He sanctified them by giving them His Holy Spirit.
“He shall stand” as a shepherd stands to survey and guard His flock on every side. He feeds the flock in whose strength? The Lord’s strength!
“He shall stand” in the majesty of the Name of the Lord. Hebrews 1:1-3 says of Jesus, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the Word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hallelujah! What a Savior!
“They shall abide,” namely, the remnant of His people who love and serve Him.
“He [Jesus] shall be great to the ends of the earth.” And the remnant shall be strong in Him.
“And this One shall be peace when the Assyrian comes into our land, and when he treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princely men. They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances. Thus, He shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land and when he treads within our borders.” Micah 5:5-6
The One who is peace is Messiah. He was with King Hezekiah and the Prophet Isaiah by His Spirit when the Assyrian army surrounded Jerusalem. In Isaiah 36:21, He gave them peace not to answer the bullies when they were mocking them. In Isaiah 37:14-38, they laid the boastings of their enemies on the altar of God, and asked God to hear and act on their prayer. He did.
Ephesians 2:14 says of Jesus, “He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.” In Luke 2:14, when Christ was born, a multitude of the heavenly host praised God and said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” The Lord advises us in 1 Peter 5:7 to cast all our care on Him, for He cares for us.
Assyria represents bullies. Bullies shall be destroyed when Messiah returns.
“Seven and eight shepherds” — “seven and eight” is an idiom for a full and sufficient number.
“Princely men” literally means “anointed men” such as the apostles were. Their anointing, or consecration and qualification to office was by the Holy Spirit [Calvin].
“Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, that tarry for no man nor wait for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, who, if he passes through, both treads down and tears in pieces and none can deliver. Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off.” Micah 5:7-9
The remnant of Jacob which the Lord brought together from among the survivors were going to multiply and be like dew and showers that help the nation to be productive.
Judah will be “as a lion,” not in respect to its cruelty, but in its power of striking terror into all opponents. Under the Maccabees, the Jews acquired Idumea, Samaria, and parts of the territory of Ammon and Moab. But this was only the beginning, more was yet to come. [JFBC]
“And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that I will cut off your horses from your midst and destroy your chariots. I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds. I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no soothsayers. Your carved images I will also cut off, and your sacred pillars from your midst. You shall no more worship the work of your hands. I will pluck your wooden images from your midst. Thus, I will destroy your cities. And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury on the nations that have not heard.” Micah 5:10-15
The words above harken back to Micah 4:3 where the Lord promises that swords will be turned into plowshares and spears be turned into pruning hooks. The Lord will shift their reliance from idols, weapons of war, sorceries, soothsayers and fortress cities to reliance on Him.
How many people of war-based economies believe that weapons of war are their source of peace and strength? In Daniel 5:30, King Belshazzar of Babylon believed his nation’s defenses were invincible . He believed that right up until the night an invading army was inside his gates through a scheme that he did not perceive possible. His mighty kingdom ended in one day.
In Jeremiah 17:5-8, “Thus says the Lord: cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.”
Psalm 118:8-9 says, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.”
In Matthew 6:33, Jesus taught us to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. God is God! He created the whole universe by speaking words. He is more than able to meet our every need. Glory to God!
[1] www.seetheholyland.net/shrine-of-the-book
[MHC] = Matthew Henry Commentary
[JFBC] = Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
The Lord Jesus has graced me with revelations from the Book of Jeremiah that are helpful to better understanding the relevance of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am in the midst of preparing 54 video-recorded presentations, one for each chapter of Jeremiah, plus an intro and conclusion presentation. When the presentations are done, I plan to publish them on YouTube. I also welcome invitations to share these revelations in-person. In the meantime, I publish articles online, intercede for the peoples of the nations, and say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Monday, December 8, 2025
Prophesying Rightly
Who likes being confronted about the things that they have done wrong? While not enjoyable, the Lord confronts our wrong-doing because He loves us. Proverbs 27:6 says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” God wants to save us from sin which deceives and destroys us. In Micah 3, the Lord confronts the harmful behaviors of Israel’s leaders against their people.
“And I said: ‘Hear now, O heads of Jacob, and you rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice? You who hate good and love evil; who strip the skin from My people, and the flesh from their bones; who also eat the flesh of My people, flay their skin from them, break their bones, and chop them in pieces like meat for the pot, like flesh in the caldron. Then they will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them. He will even hide His face from them at that time, because they have been evil in their deeds.” Micah 3:1-4
The leaders of Israel were not fair. They hated do-gooders. They treated people as prey to hunt. They consumed people as a hunter eats his kill. Then, they expected the Lord to turn a blind eye to their evil deeds just as they did for one another.
“Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who make my people stray, who chant ‘Peace’ while they chew with their teeth but prepare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths. Therefore you shall have night without vision, and you shall have darkness without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them. So the seers shall be ashamed, and the diviners abashed. Indeed they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God.” Micah 3:5-7
The false prophets gave words of peace to those who fed them but words of war to those who did not. They were imposters. They saw people as a means to an end. 2 Timothy 3:13 says, “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” Those who deceive others for the sake of personal profit, do not realize that they are being deceived by the devil out of an eternal inheritance with God.
God, by His Spirit, had urged them in many and various ways to repent, but they closed their ears to Him so He was going to turn the lights out on them and withhold answers from them.
“But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.” Micah 3:8
In Luke 1:17, the angel told Zachariah that his future son would go before Messiah in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can anyone stand and speak for God in a society that has distanced itself so far from Him.
In Luke 24:49, Jesus told His disciples to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they were “endued with power from on high.” Jesus gives divine power to those who speak divine truth.
In 1 Corinthians 2:4, Paul wrote, “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
In 2 Peter 1:21, Peter wrote. “Prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
Thus, in Micah 3:8, God’s prophet stated that He is full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and [by the Spirit] of justice and might.” The Holy Spirit helped Micah not to succumb to the ways of the false prophets around him. Without the Holy Spirit, he too, would have failed both God and his listeners.
In John 16:8, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” The Holy Spirit is the source of the prophet’s power to bring conviction.
In John 16:13, Jesus said, “When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak. And He will tell you things to come.” The Holy Spirit is the source of the truth which the prophet speaks.
In John 7:17, Jesus told His audience that they needed to know God and place their faith in Him to judge rightly.
In John 5:30, Jesus testified, “I can do nothing on My own. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” God’s Spirit unites the will of God’s prophets with God’s will so that they say what God wants them to say to people.
Prophets of God want their listeners to be right with God.
Romans 14:10 says, “We will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” God’s ultimate goal is that is each of us are in right standing with Him before that day comes.
In John 5:24, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life.”
God’s prophets point people to faith in Jesus. Revelation 19:10 says, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Jesus Christ is the One who took our sin upon Himself on the cross. He died for our sins as an atoning sacrifice. He resurrected from the dead on the third day to prove that He is the One that God sent to save us.
Acts 10:43 says, “All the prophets testify about Him [Jesus Christ] that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name.”
2 Peter 1:3 says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” We rely on divine power, not our own, to live godly lives. Ungodly behavior stems from not abiding in Christ.
“Now hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity, who build up Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity. Her heads judge for a bribe. Her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord, and say, ‘Is not the Lord among us? No harm can come upon us.’ Therefore because of you, Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest.” Micah 3:9-12
The leaders of Judah and Israel were in a bad place. They had built a community based on perversion of justice and fairness. Shedding blood and taking bribes were status quo.
Israel’s and Judah’s priests and prophets operated non-prophet organizations that profited by manipulating people. They were magnificent at messaging for money. Like the Laodicean church people in Revelation 3:17, they viewed themselves as rich, wealthy and in need of nothing, but did not know that in reality they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked in the sight of God. In Revelation 3:19, Jesus said to them, “Be zealous and repent.”
The Lord said to leaders in Micah’s day, “Because of you, Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest.”
In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus concluded His sermon on the mount, by saying, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
“Dear Heavenly Father, please move in us, in our political leaders, in our faith leaders and in our people to listen to embrace and act on Your words of correction which you lovingly provide for us. Please compel us to reject temporary foundations in preference for YOU. In Jesus’ Name. I pray. Amen.”
“And I said: ‘Hear now, O heads of Jacob, and you rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice? You who hate good and love evil; who strip the skin from My people, and the flesh from their bones; who also eat the flesh of My people, flay their skin from them, break their bones, and chop them in pieces like meat for the pot, like flesh in the caldron. Then they will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them. He will even hide His face from them at that time, because they have been evil in their deeds.” Micah 3:1-4
The leaders of Israel were not fair. They hated do-gooders. They treated people as prey to hunt. They consumed people as a hunter eats his kill. Then, they expected the Lord to turn a blind eye to their evil deeds just as they did for one another.
“Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who make my people stray, who chant ‘Peace’ while they chew with their teeth but prepare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths. Therefore you shall have night without vision, and you shall have darkness without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them. So the seers shall be ashamed, and the diviners abashed. Indeed they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God.” Micah 3:5-7
The false prophets gave words of peace to those who fed them but words of war to those who did not. They were imposters. They saw people as a means to an end. 2 Timothy 3:13 says, “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” Those who deceive others for the sake of personal profit, do not realize that they are being deceived by the devil out of an eternal inheritance with God.
God, by His Spirit, had urged them in many and various ways to repent, but they closed their ears to Him so He was going to turn the lights out on them and withhold answers from them.
“But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.” Micah 3:8
In Luke 1:17, the angel told Zachariah that his future son would go before Messiah in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can anyone stand and speak for God in a society that has distanced itself so far from Him.
In Luke 24:49, Jesus told His disciples to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they were “endued with power from on high.” Jesus gives divine power to those who speak divine truth.
In 1 Corinthians 2:4, Paul wrote, “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
In 2 Peter 1:21, Peter wrote. “Prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
Thus, in Micah 3:8, God’s prophet stated that He is full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and [by the Spirit] of justice and might.” The Holy Spirit helped Micah not to succumb to the ways of the false prophets around him. Without the Holy Spirit, he too, would have failed both God and his listeners.
In John 16:8, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” The Holy Spirit is the source of the prophet’s power to bring conviction.
In John 16:13, Jesus said, “When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak. And He will tell you things to come.” The Holy Spirit is the source of the truth which the prophet speaks.
In John 7:17, Jesus told His audience that they needed to know God and place their faith in Him to judge rightly.
In John 5:30, Jesus testified, “I can do nothing on My own. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” God’s Spirit unites the will of God’s prophets with God’s will so that they say what God wants them to say to people.
Prophets of God want their listeners to be right with God.
Romans 14:10 says, “We will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” God’s ultimate goal is that is each of us are in right standing with Him before that day comes.
In John 5:24, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life.”
God’s prophets point people to faith in Jesus. Revelation 19:10 says, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Jesus Christ is the One who took our sin upon Himself on the cross. He died for our sins as an atoning sacrifice. He resurrected from the dead on the third day to prove that He is the One that God sent to save us.
Acts 10:43 says, “All the prophets testify about Him [Jesus Christ] that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name.”
2 Peter 1:3 says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” We rely on divine power, not our own, to live godly lives. Ungodly behavior stems from not abiding in Christ.
“Now hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity, who build up Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity. Her heads judge for a bribe. Her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord, and say, ‘Is not the Lord among us? No harm can come upon us.’ Therefore because of you, Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest.” Micah 3:9-12
The leaders of Judah and Israel were in a bad place. They had built a community based on perversion of justice and fairness. Shedding blood and taking bribes were status quo.
Israel’s and Judah’s priests and prophets operated non-prophet organizations that profited by manipulating people. They were magnificent at messaging for money. Like the Laodicean church people in Revelation 3:17, they viewed themselves as rich, wealthy and in need of nothing, but did not know that in reality they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked in the sight of God. In Revelation 3:19, Jesus said to them, “Be zealous and repent.”
The Lord said to leaders in Micah’s day, “Because of you, Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest.”
In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus concluded His sermon on the mount, by saying, “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
“Dear Heavenly Father, please move in us, in our political leaders, in our faith leaders and in our people to listen to embrace and act on Your words of correction which you lovingly provide for us. Please compel us to reject temporary foundations in preference for YOU. In Jesus’ Name. I pray. Amen.”
The Lord Jesus has graced me with revelations from the Book of Jeremiah that are helpful to better understanding the relevance of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am in the midst of preparing 54 video-recorded presentations, one for each chapter of Jeremiah, plus an intro and conclusion presentation. When the presentations are done, I plan to publish them on YouTube. I also welcome invitations to share these revelations in-person. In the meantime, I publish articles online, intercede for the peoples of the nations, and say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Sunday, December 7, 2025
The Good Shepherd
“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.” Micah 1:1
Moresheth is a town south of Jerusalem near the border of the Philistine territory. The Lord speaks His Word to Micah during the reigns of three Judean kings between 735-710 BC.
“Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all that is in it! Let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple. For behold, the Lord is coming out of His place. He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. The mountains will melt under Him, and the valleys will split like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place. All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?” Micah 1:2-5
Everyone on earth needs to hear this! Let the Lord speak from heaven to you. The Lord is about to bring about serious judgments on transgression. Which transgressions does the Lord intend to address? The answer is the transgressions which flow from the capital of Israel (Samaria) and the transgressions which flow from the capital of Judah (Jerusalem).
In 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul wrote, “I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.”
If the devil controls the capital cities of nations, he can control the nations under those governments more easily. Therefore, his aim is to turn our capitals into cesspools of corruption where good and honest people are either flipped from doing good or they are eliminated. God in His Word promises to bless our nations with quietness (lack of drama), peace and godliness if we pray for all who are in authority. The Lord led me to make a prayer list with the names of the USA’s leaders on it so I will not forget to pray for them. I also pray over maps of the nations.
“Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field, places for planting a vineyard. I will pour down her stones into the valley, and I will uncover her foundations. All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her pay as a harlot shall be burned with the fire. All her idols I will lay desolate, for she gathered it from the pay of a harlot, and they shall return to the pay of a harlot.” Micah 1:6-7
The proud buildings of Samaria will eventually become rubble and be replaced by grape yielding vineyards. Instead of consuming their nation’s wealth, their capital will begin to produce food for people. Their Idols will be shattered, and the income of idol worshippers will be burnt up.
“Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked. I will make a wailing like the jackals and a mourning like the ostriches. For her wounds are incurable. For it has come to Judah. It has come to the gate of My people—to Jerusalem.” Micah 1:8-9
The Lord celebrates not the suffering of idolators. He weeps like a jackal which is loud. A jackal’s howl sounds like someone crying. The Lord mourns for Jacob like an ostrich. Ostriches make sounds like someone mourning and screaming. The wailing continues because Jacob’s wound will not heal. The sounds of the Lord’s grief over Jacob reaches even as far away as Jerusalem.
In Micah 1:10-16, the Lord lists towns situated between the land of the Philistines and Jerusalem that shall suffer losses as a result of attacks by the Assyrian army. They are Beth Aphrah, Shaphir, Zaanan, Beth Ezel, Maroth, Lachish, Moresheth Gath, Achzib, Mareshah, and Adullam. The Lord urges His people to feel their pain to the point of grieving for them.
“Harness the chariot to the team of horses, O inhabitant of Lachish—she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion—because in you were found the rebellious acts of Israel.” Micah 10:13
Lachish was the beginning of sin to Zion (Jerusalem) because Lachish was the first of Judah’s cities to imitate Israel’s worship of idols. Lachish, being close to Samaria, was the first city of Judah to be infected by Israel’s idolatry, which then spread to Jerusalem. [JFBC]
“Woe to those who devise iniquity and work out evil on their beds! At morning light they practice it because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and take them by violence, also houses, and seize them. So they oppress a man and his house, a man, and his inheritance.” Micah 2:1-2
Rather than praying and thanking God for providing and protecting them, the idol worshippers laid awake thinking about which forms of violence they might use to defraud farmers and home owners of their properties. They used oppressive tactics to rob people of their inheritances.
“Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks; nor shall you walk haughtily, for this is an evil time. In that day, one shall take up a proverb against you, and lament with a bitter lamentation, saying: ‘We are utterly destroyed! He has changed the heritage of my people. How He has removed it from me! To a turncoat He has divided our fields.’ Therefore you will have no one to determine boundaries by lot in the assembly of the Lord.” Micah 2:3-5
Instead of loving their neighbors, the people in these towns were hateful and harmful toward them. God promised that a disaster that would defraud them of what they stole from others. They would have no one to turn to protect them in those days. Soon, they would be the ones crying bitterly and saying, “We are utterly destroyed!”
“Do not prophesy, you say to those who prophesy. So they shall not prophesy to you. They shall not return insult for insult. You who are named the house of Jacob: ‘Is the Spirit of the Lord restricted? Are these His doings? Do not My Words do good to him who walks uprightly?” Micah 2:6-7
In Revelation 3;19, Jesus declares, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” William Barclay wrote, “Jesus’ great love was expressed in His rebuke. It is, in fact, God’s final punishment to leave a person alone.”
God left those who did not want Him alone for a season. He silenced His prophets. He told His prophets not to trade insults with the mockers. God removed His Spirit’s convictions and restraints from the rebels for a time. Lawlessness, chaos and violence increased among them.
King David testified of the blessings that he received from reading God’s Word. In Psalm 19:9-11, David wrote, “The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold. They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb! By them, your servant is warned. In keeping them there is great reward.”
“Lately My people have risen up as an enemy—you pull off the robe with the garment from those who trust you, as they pass by, like men returned from war. The women of My people you cast out from their pleasant houses. From their children you have taken away My glory forever.” Micah 2:8-9
Where was love? Those who should have been protecting and providing for women and children, were ripping them from their homes, and ripping their clothes away as conquering soldiers do to widows and orphans of conquered nations.
“Arise and depart, for this is not your rest; because it is defiled, it shall destroy, yes, with utter destruction. If a man should walk in a false spirit and speak a lie, saying, ‘I will prophesy to you of wine and drink,’ even he would be the prophet of this people.” Micah 2:10-11
They were ripe for false prophets to harvest. They had closed their ears to truth. They would do anything for wining, dining and entertainment but nothing for God.
The Lord promised to separate the sheep (the remnant) from the goats (the rebels). He promised to gather the remnant from among the nations and bring them back to pasture.
“I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture. They shall make a loud noise because of so many people. The one who breaks open will come up before them. They will break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it. Their king will pass before them, with the Lord at their head.” Micah 2:12-13
The remnant still loved the Lord. He promised to connect them together as a shepherd herds scattered sheep together. He would lead them into His sheepfold of fellowship and provision.
Psalm 103:10-14 says that the Lord “does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust.”
God promised to purge sin from the towns of Judah. Fiery trials would help them to reconsider their treatment of God, God’s Word and God’s servants.
In Micah 2:12-13, the Lord assembled the remnant of His people as a good shepherd gathers the sheep that he loves into a green pasture. He would not treat them as their sins deserved. He would forgive them. He would have compassion on them. He would be gracious unto them and restore them to the Promised Land. He promised to go before them and lead the way.
Moresheth is a town south of Jerusalem near the border of the Philistine territory. The Lord speaks His Word to Micah during the reigns of three Judean kings between 735-710 BC.
“Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all that is in it! Let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple. For behold, the Lord is coming out of His place. He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. The mountains will melt under Him, and the valleys will split like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place. All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?” Micah 1:2-5
Everyone on earth needs to hear this! Let the Lord speak from heaven to you. The Lord is about to bring about serious judgments on transgression. Which transgressions does the Lord intend to address? The answer is the transgressions which flow from the capital of Israel (Samaria) and the transgressions which flow from the capital of Judah (Jerusalem).
In 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul wrote, “I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.”
If the devil controls the capital cities of nations, he can control the nations under those governments more easily. Therefore, his aim is to turn our capitals into cesspools of corruption where good and honest people are either flipped from doing good or they are eliminated. God in His Word promises to bless our nations with quietness (lack of drama), peace and godliness if we pray for all who are in authority. The Lord led me to make a prayer list with the names of the USA’s leaders on it so I will not forget to pray for them. I also pray over maps of the nations.
“Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field, places for planting a vineyard. I will pour down her stones into the valley, and I will uncover her foundations. All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her pay as a harlot shall be burned with the fire. All her idols I will lay desolate, for she gathered it from the pay of a harlot, and they shall return to the pay of a harlot.” Micah 1:6-7
The proud buildings of Samaria will eventually become rubble and be replaced by grape yielding vineyards. Instead of consuming their nation’s wealth, their capital will begin to produce food for people. Their Idols will be shattered, and the income of idol worshippers will be burnt up.
“Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked. I will make a wailing like the jackals and a mourning like the ostriches. For her wounds are incurable. For it has come to Judah. It has come to the gate of My people—to Jerusalem.” Micah 1:8-9
The Lord celebrates not the suffering of idolators. He weeps like a jackal which is loud. A jackal’s howl sounds like someone crying. The Lord mourns for Jacob like an ostrich. Ostriches make sounds like someone mourning and screaming. The wailing continues because Jacob’s wound will not heal. The sounds of the Lord’s grief over Jacob reaches even as far away as Jerusalem.
In Micah 1:10-16, the Lord lists towns situated between the land of the Philistines and Jerusalem that shall suffer losses as a result of attacks by the Assyrian army. They are Beth Aphrah, Shaphir, Zaanan, Beth Ezel, Maroth, Lachish, Moresheth Gath, Achzib, Mareshah, and Adullam. The Lord urges His people to feel their pain to the point of grieving for them.
“Harness the chariot to the team of horses, O inhabitant of Lachish—she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion—because in you were found the rebellious acts of Israel.” Micah 10:13
Lachish was the beginning of sin to Zion (Jerusalem) because Lachish was the first of Judah’s cities to imitate Israel’s worship of idols. Lachish, being close to Samaria, was the first city of Judah to be infected by Israel’s idolatry, which then spread to Jerusalem. [JFBC]
“Woe to those who devise iniquity and work out evil on their beds! At morning light they practice it because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and take them by violence, also houses, and seize them. So they oppress a man and his house, a man, and his inheritance.” Micah 2:1-2
Rather than praying and thanking God for providing and protecting them, the idol worshippers laid awake thinking about which forms of violence they might use to defraud farmers and home owners of their properties. They used oppressive tactics to rob people of their inheritances.
“Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks; nor shall you walk haughtily, for this is an evil time. In that day, one shall take up a proverb against you, and lament with a bitter lamentation, saying: ‘We are utterly destroyed! He has changed the heritage of my people. How He has removed it from me! To a turncoat He has divided our fields.’ Therefore you will have no one to determine boundaries by lot in the assembly of the Lord.” Micah 2:3-5
Instead of loving their neighbors, the people in these towns were hateful and harmful toward them. God promised that a disaster that would defraud them of what they stole from others. They would have no one to turn to protect them in those days. Soon, they would be the ones crying bitterly and saying, “We are utterly destroyed!”
“Do not prophesy, you say to those who prophesy. So they shall not prophesy to you. They shall not return insult for insult. You who are named the house of Jacob: ‘Is the Spirit of the Lord restricted? Are these His doings? Do not My Words do good to him who walks uprightly?” Micah 2:6-7
In Revelation 3;19, Jesus declares, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” William Barclay wrote, “Jesus’ great love was expressed in His rebuke. It is, in fact, God’s final punishment to leave a person alone.”
God left those who did not want Him alone for a season. He silenced His prophets. He told His prophets not to trade insults with the mockers. God removed His Spirit’s convictions and restraints from the rebels for a time. Lawlessness, chaos and violence increased among them.
King David testified of the blessings that he received from reading God’s Word. In Psalm 19:9-11, David wrote, “The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold. They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb! By them, your servant is warned. In keeping them there is great reward.”
“Lately My people have risen up as an enemy—you pull off the robe with the garment from those who trust you, as they pass by, like men returned from war. The women of My people you cast out from their pleasant houses. From their children you have taken away My glory forever.” Micah 2:8-9
Where was love? Those who should have been protecting and providing for women and children, were ripping them from their homes, and ripping their clothes away as conquering soldiers do to widows and orphans of conquered nations.
“Arise and depart, for this is not your rest; because it is defiled, it shall destroy, yes, with utter destruction. If a man should walk in a false spirit and speak a lie, saying, ‘I will prophesy to you of wine and drink,’ even he would be the prophet of this people.” Micah 2:10-11
They were ripe for false prophets to harvest. They had closed their ears to truth. They would do anything for wining, dining and entertainment but nothing for God.
The Lord promised to separate the sheep (the remnant) from the goats (the rebels). He promised to gather the remnant from among the nations and bring them back to pasture.
“I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture. They shall make a loud noise because of so many people. The one who breaks open will come up before them. They will break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it. Their king will pass before them, with the Lord at their head.” Micah 2:12-13
The remnant still loved the Lord. He promised to connect them together as a shepherd herds scattered sheep together. He would lead them into His sheepfold of fellowship and provision.
Psalm 103:10-14 says that the Lord “does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust.”
God promised to purge sin from the towns of Judah. Fiery trials would help them to reconsider their treatment of God, God’s Word and God’s servants.
In Micah 2:12-13, the Lord assembled the remnant of His people as a good shepherd gathers the sheep that he loves into a green pasture. He would not treat them as their sins deserved. He would forgive them. He would have compassion on them. He would be gracious unto them and restore them to the Promised Land. He promised to go before them and lead the way.
[JFBC] = Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
The Lord Jesus has graced me with revelations from the Book of Jeremiah that are helpful to better understanding the relevance of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am in the midst of preparing 54 video-recorded presentations, one for each chapter of Jeremiah, plus an intro and conclusion presentation. When the presentations are done, I plan to publish them on YouTube. I also welcome invitations to share these revelations in-person. In the meantime, I publish articles online, intercede for the peoples of the nations, and say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Saturday, December 6, 2025
Filled With God’s Love
“Now the Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.’ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the Word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, ‘Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’” Jonah 3:1-4
God’s call in 3-steps: 1) Hear God’s Word, 2) Take God’s Word, 3) Present God’s Word.
The total word count of Jonah’s message was eight words: “Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Few words but great results! God’s Spirit convicted the Ninevites to believe.
“So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, ‘Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?’” Jonah 3:6-9
People of all age groups turned to the Lord with fasting and repentance. Even the king got involved. He got off his throne, removed his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
Sackcloth and ashes are a symbol of debasement, mourning, and repentance. Sackcloth was a coarse material usually made of black goat’s hair. It was uncomfortable to wear. The ashes signified desolation and ruin.
When someone died, the wearing of sackcloth expressed sorrow for the loss of that person. In 2 Samuel 3:31, David wore sackcloth while mourning the death of Abner. In Esther 4:1, Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes in reaction to King Xerxes’ declaration to exterminate the Jews. In Revelation 11:3, two witnesses wear sackcloth for 3 ½ years while they prophesy.
Ninevah’s king put on sackcloth to express repentance of sin and humility before God. He also sat in ashes, as if to say, “If you don’t help me God, I am ruined.” The king made a decree that everyone should turn from evil and violence. He hoped that God would not destroy them.
“Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.” Jonah 3:10
Does God see what we do out of respect for Him? He does. He did not destroy Ninevah.
“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord, and said, ‘Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!’ Then the Lord said, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’” Jonah 4:1-4
Jonah should have been happy. God had used his life like no other prophet in the history of Israel. A pagan city repented of sin and believed in God!
Jonah said that he fled to Tarshish because he knew God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abundant in lovingkindness and relents from harming people. He was outraged at God to the point of wanting to die. It wasn’t that God was deficient in love, it was that God had too much love. Perhaps, his thoughts were like this, “God, it is okay for You to love your enemies, but why put me in the middle? You were sensitive to those murderers, rapists and people traffickers, but you hurt me. You put me through a storm, had me swallowed by a fish, and then, had me walk through a city for three days that was about 48 miles in circumference, proclaiming eight words. You didn’t need me! You could have done it without me.”
“So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’” Jonah 4:5-8
Here, Jonah is ready to die again. This time because a plant that God provided for him died. The plant shaded him from the sun. But wait, he wanted to die due to a plant dying? The death of the plant ignited seething bitter feelings in him. Those feelings were like flammable fuel. They only needed the slightest spark to explode.
“Then God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?’ And he said, ‘It is right for me to be angry, even to death!’ But the Lord said, ‘You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?’” Jonah 4:9-11
God asked Jonah. “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” Jonah says, “Even to death.” Three times Jonah expressed a death wish against himself. Anger got the best of him.
In Luke 22:57-60, Simon Peter son of Jonah denied that he knew Jesus Christ three times. Fear got the best of him.
In Luke 22:31-34, Jesus provided a prophecy for Simon Peter. “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Jesus gave Peter a prophecy. “Jesus said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know Me.’” In Luke 22:60-62
What is the significance of the rooster crowing after Simon Peter son of Jonah denied the Lord three times? Luke 22:60-62 says, “Immediately, while he was still speaking [having denied the Lord for the third time], the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how He had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.”
Roosters crow when a new day dawns. Jesus transformed Peter’s bitter experience into a “new day.” After the rooster crowed, Peter wept tears of repentance. The Lord had prayed for him. Soon, on the day of Pentecost, Christ would fill Peter with the Holy Spirit. Peter would be converted from trust in himself to trust in God. As Zechariah 4:6 says, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.”
Jonah needed the Lord to help him forgive the Ninevites. He could not forgive them in his own strength. Previously, the Ninevites had imprisoned and cruelly treated his people.
Corrie Ten Boom spoke of the importance helping Nazi concentration camp survivors to forgive their torturers. She herself was asked by one of her torturers to forgive him. She confessed that she could not do it in her own strength but that the Lord helped her to do it after she prayed. He had become a Christian.
The movie Ben Hur makes a good case for reliance on Christ for help to forgive one’s enemies. Judah Ben Hur wanted to destroy his enemy, but his enemy’s death did not help him, Christ did.
In Philippians 3:13-16, while in a prison cell, Paul wrote, “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”
The Lord said to Jonah, “Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left.” Jonah needed to change. God was not going to change for Jonah’s sake even though He dearly loved Jonah. Remember, God forgave and rescued Jonah from drowning after Jonah rebelled against Him.
Romans 5:6-8 says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
In Matthew 5:44-48, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
“Our Father in heaven, please help us to forgive our debtors even as You forgive us. Christ Jesus, please demonstrate Your love through us. Holy Spirit, please fill us with love for God and love for our neighbor. In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.”
God’s call in 3-steps: 1) Hear God’s Word, 2) Take God’s Word, 3) Present God’s Word.
The total word count of Jonah’s message was eight words: “Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Few words but great results! God’s Spirit convicted the Ninevites to believe.
“So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, ‘Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?’” Jonah 3:6-9
People of all age groups turned to the Lord with fasting and repentance. Even the king got involved. He got off his throne, removed his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
Sackcloth and ashes are a symbol of debasement, mourning, and repentance. Sackcloth was a coarse material usually made of black goat’s hair. It was uncomfortable to wear. The ashes signified desolation and ruin.
When someone died, the wearing of sackcloth expressed sorrow for the loss of that person. In 2 Samuel 3:31, David wore sackcloth while mourning the death of Abner. In Esther 4:1, Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes in reaction to King Xerxes’ declaration to exterminate the Jews. In Revelation 11:3, two witnesses wear sackcloth for 3 ½ years while they prophesy.
Ninevah’s king put on sackcloth to express repentance of sin and humility before God. He also sat in ashes, as if to say, “If you don’t help me God, I am ruined.” The king made a decree that everyone should turn from evil and violence. He hoped that God would not destroy them.
“Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.” Jonah 3:10
Does God see what we do out of respect for Him? He does. He did not destroy Ninevah.
“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord, and said, ‘Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!’ Then the Lord said, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’” Jonah 4:1-4
Jonah should have been happy. God had used his life like no other prophet in the history of Israel. A pagan city repented of sin and believed in God!
Jonah said that he fled to Tarshish because he knew God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abundant in lovingkindness and relents from harming people. He was outraged at God to the point of wanting to die. It wasn’t that God was deficient in love, it was that God had too much love. Perhaps, his thoughts were like this, “God, it is okay for You to love your enemies, but why put me in the middle? You were sensitive to those murderers, rapists and people traffickers, but you hurt me. You put me through a storm, had me swallowed by a fish, and then, had me walk through a city for three days that was about 48 miles in circumference, proclaiming eight words. You didn’t need me! You could have done it without me.”
“So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’” Jonah 4:5-8
Here, Jonah is ready to die again. This time because a plant that God provided for him died. The plant shaded him from the sun. But wait, he wanted to die due to a plant dying? The death of the plant ignited seething bitter feelings in him. Those feelings were like flammable fuel. They only needed the slightest spark to explode.
“Then God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?’ And he said, ‘It is right for me to be angry, even to death!’ But the Lord said, ‘You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?’” Jonah 4:9-11
God asked Jonah. “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” Jonah says, “Even to death.” Three times Jonah expressed a death wish against himself. Anger got the best of him.
In Luke 22:57-60, Simon Peter son of Jonah denied that he knew Jesus Christ three times. Fear got the best of him.
In Luke 22:31-34, Jesus provided a prophecy for Simon Peter. “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Jesus gave Peter a prophecy. “Jesus said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know Me.’” In Luke 22:60-62
What is the significance of the rooster crowing after Simon Peter son of Jonah denied the Lord three times? Luke 22:60-62 says, “Immediately, while he was still speaking [having denied the Lord for the third time], the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how He had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.”
Roosters crow when a new day dawns. Jesus transformed Peter’s bitter experience into a “new day.” After the rooster crowed, Peter wept tears of repentance. The Lord had prayed for him. Soon, on the day of Pentecost, Christ would fill Peter with the Holy Spirit. Peter would be converted from trust in himself to trust in God. As Zechariah 4:6 says, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.”
Jonah needed the Lord to help him forgive the Ninevites. He could not forgive them in his own strength. Previously, the Ninevites had imprisoned and cruelly treated his people.
Corrie Ten Boom spoke of the importance helping Nazi concentration camp survivors to forgive their torturers. She herself was asked by one of her torturers to forgive him. She confessed that she could not do it in her own strength but that the Lord helped her to do it after she prayed. He had become a Christian.
The movie Ben Hur makes a good case for reliance on Christ for help to forgive one’s enemies. Judah Ben Hur wanted to destroy his enemy, but his enemy’s death did not help him, Christ did.
In Philippians 3:13-16, while in a prison cell, Paul wrote, “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”
The Lord said to Jonah, “Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left.” Jonah needed to change. God was not going to change for Jonah’s sake even though He dearly loved Jonah. Remember, God forgave and rescued Jonah from drowning after Jonah rebelled against Him.
Romans 5:6-8 says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
In Matthew 5:44-48, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
“Our Father in heaven, please help us to forgive our debtors even as You forgive us. Christ Jesus, please demonstrate Your love through us. Holy Spirit, please fill us with love for God and love for our neighbor. In Jesus’ Name, I pray. Amen.”
The Lord Jesus has graced me with revelations from the Book of Jeremiah that are helpful to better understanding the relevance of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am in the midst of preparing 54 video-recorded presentations, one for each chapter of Jeremiah, plus an intro and conclusion presentation. When the presentations are done, I plan to publish them on YouTube. I also welcome invitations to share these revelations in-person. In the meantime, I publish articles online, intercede for the peoples of the nations, and say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
Friday, December 5, 2025
Jonah, Jesus and Peter
The Lord in His Word reveals clear connections between the stories of Jonah, Jesus and Peter. Their stories illustrate to us the urgency of sharing the message of salvation with lost souls.
Jonah means “dove.” Jesus told His disciples to be wise as serpents but as harmless as doves. Jonah’s father’s name Amittai means “truth.” Truth and dove relate to the Holy Spirit.
Simon Peter’s father’s name was Jonah. Is it just a coincidence that Peter fled like the prophet Jonah did to a boat? Simon the Son of Jonah returned to his boat after the death of Jesus. In John 20:15, Jesus addressed Peter as Simon son of Jonah. Jesus asked the son of Jonah three times, “Do you love me?” Jesus gave him three opportunities to confess his love for Him after the son of Jonah denied him three times. Is it just a coincidence that Jonah the prophet preached to a multitude and a multitude repented and believed his message, and that, Simon Peter son of Jonah preached to a multitude in Acts 2:14-41, and 3,000 were people were added to the Church? Both men are testimonies of what God’s grace can do via His servants.
“But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So, he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” Jonah 1:3
Jonah went to Joppa. Simon Peter son of Jonah went to Joppa as well. In Acts 9:36-43, it happened in Joppa that Jesus used Simon Peter son of Jonah to resurrect a disciple named Tabitha from the dead. Simon son of Jonah stayed many days in Joppa. In Acts 10:1-48, while in Joppa, God gave Simon son of Jonah a vision that led him to preach Christ to Gentiles. Those Gentiles believed in Christ and were filled with the Holy Spirit. Jonah the prophet went to Joppa to flee from the Lord but ended up preaching to Gentiles. Peter went to Joppa in obedience to God, while there, the Lord instructed him via a vision to preach the Gospel to Gentiles.
Jonah paid money to flee from God’s presence. From Acts 9:43 and Acts 10:6, we learn that a man named Simon hosted Simon Peter son of Jonah in his house by the sea for many days. God provided for the Simon Peter son of Jonah as he obeyed the Lord’s leading.
“But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. So the captain came to him, and said to him, ‘What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Perhaps, your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.’” Jonah 1:4-6
Have you been on a ship at sea? Some experience sea sickness while on boats. Waves cause boats to plunge downward and launch upward repeatedly. It is hard to keep your balance on a boat that is being severely rocked by a storm.
Stormy seas between Joppa and Tarshish were characterized by hurricane-like conditions that threatened to break apart ships. In modern terms, waves off the coast of Israel can exceed 16 feet during storms. The Mediterranean was generally considered closed to sea travel from November– March due to violent storms. Perhaps, Jonah’s ship was sailing during this season.
The mariners on Jonah’s ship were afraid of losing their lives. They cried out to their gods. They threw unnecessary cargo overboard to help keep the ship floating high on the water.
Where was Jonah? He was fast asleep in the lowest parts of the ship. This part of his story reminds me of Mark 4:38-40 when Jesus fell asleep in a boat. His disciples woke Jesus up due to a life threatening storm that was happening. Jesus immediately silenced the wind and waves.
The captain seemed shocked that Jonah was sleeping. He urged to Jonah to pray to his God so that no one would perish.
“And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.’ So, they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.” Jonah 1:7
The mariners believed that God would reveal to them who on the ship was the guilty via the casting of lots.
In Joshua 7:14-18, Achan was revealed to be guilty of stealing forbidden plunder by the casting of lots. In 1 Samuel 14:38-44, Jonathan was revealed to be guilty of breaking a non-eating fast by the casting of lots. In Acts 1:26, the eleven apostles cast lots to determine who would replace Judas Iscariot. Proverbs 16:33 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” So, the Lord has used the casting of lots to direct people.
“Then they said to him, ‘Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?’ So he said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’ Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, ‘Why have you done this?’ For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then they said to him, ‘What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?’—for the sea was growing more tempestuous. And he said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then, the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.’” Jonah 1:8-12
The lot indicated that Jonah was to blame for the life threatening storm. The mariners were terrified when they realized that Jonah had fled from the presence of the Lord. Jonah told them, “Throw me into the sea. Then, the sea will become calm.”
Jonah needed to die (it seemed) so these men could live. The only hope for sinful people to overcome death was that a sinless Savior (Jesus) would die in our place for our sins.
“Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.’ So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.” Jonah 1:13-16
In Luke 23:4, the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate told chief priests and a crowd, “'I find no guilt in this man.” In Luke 23:14, Pilate told them, “You brought this man to me as one who incites rebellion, and behold, I have examined him before you and found no guilt in him worthy of death.” In John 19:4, Pilate told them, “I find no basis against Him [Jesus].” Mark 15:10 says that Pilate knew that the chief priests betrayed Jesus out of envy. Jesus taught with authority. He did miracles. He cared for them. He drew more people to God than the chief priests did. In Matthew 27:24, Pilate washed his hands before the accusers of Jesus. He declared, “I am innocent of this man’s blood.” In Matthew 27:25, all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”
1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” Jesus willing went to His death for our sakes. In John 1:29, John the Baptists declared that Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. In Acts 8:32-35, Phillip explained to an enquirer that Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecy written in Isaiah 53:7, which says, “Like a sheep He was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opens not His mouth.” That man believed in Jesus and was baptized.
The Pharisees wanted Jesus to die. The mariners did not want Jonah to die. They rowed hard to return to land, but the sea was too violent. They had to throw Jonah overboard. They prayed, “O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” After they threw Jonah into the raging sea, they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows. They wanted God to change His position towards them from displeasure to pleasure.
“Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:17
A great fish especially prepared by the Lord swallowed not ate Jonah. The fish’s belly became Jonah’s accommodations for three days and nights. Not quite the vacation he dreamed about.
“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. And he said: ‘I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol [the grave] I cried, and You heard my voice. For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me. All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight. Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ The waters surrounded me, even to my soul. The deep closed around me. Weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of the mountains. The earth with its bars closed behind me forever...” Jonah 2:1-6
The mariners prayed to the Lord and Jonah prayed to the Lord as well.
Jonah was under water. He was in darkness. The waters surrounded his soul. Weeds wrapped around his head. The earth’s bars closed behind him forever. This sounds like being buried alive. No human could rescue him. His only hope was God. But would the God that he ran away from rescue him? Could God forgive him? His sin had endangered the lives of others. He did not deserve to be rescued, but he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord saved Him. Praise the Lord!
“...Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple. Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.’” Jonah 2:6-9
“Those who accept the literal account of Jonah take one of two main views regarding what happened to Jonah during his time in the belly of the great fish. One view holds that Jonah died and later returned to life. The second view holds that Jonah remained alive for three days in the belly of the great fish. Both views agree on a literal reading of the book of Jonah and affirm God’s supernatural ability to rescue His prophet. The difference is whether to see Jonah 2:10 as a description of a weak and bedraggled Jonah or as a truly resurrected Jonah.
Those who argue that Jonah died and later rose again appeal to Jonah’s prayer in Jonah 2:2: “From the depths of the grave I called for help.” The use of Sheol, the Hebrew term for “the grave,” could mean that Jonah actually died. Yet the words “the depths of the grave,” seen as a poetic type of phrase, could easily refer to an agonizing or horrifying experience.
There’s another reason that some argue for Jonah’s death and resurrection. In Matthew 12:40, Jesus said, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” The reasoning is that, since Jesus’ death and resurrection were actual, then Jonah must have also actually died and later returned to life. However, Jesus’ comparison does not mandate perfect congruency between the two events. Jonah’s hopeless situation was illustrative of Jesus’ death. Jonah’s sudden appearance at Nineveh was illustrative of Jesus’ resurrection. The three days was an additional similarity. Jonah returned from the edge of death. Jesus, who is greater than Jonah, returned from actual death. Analogies do not require absolute agreement in every detail.
The Bible does not explicitly state that Jonah died in the belly of the great fish. Those who theorize that he did die rely on inference and speculation.
What is the evidence that Jonah stayed alive for the three days he spent in the belly of the great fish? First, in Jonah 2:1, it is clear that Jonah prayed from inside the fish. At the very least, Jonah lived long enough to offer his prayer.
Second, the language of Jonah’s prayer is poetic in nature. Terms such as “Sheol” and “the pit” do not have to be interpreted so literally as to require physical death.
Did Jonah die in the fish, or was he alive the whole time? Either interpretation is possible, but the traditional understanding, that Jonah was alive for three days in the belly of a great fish, is more likely. Jonah, who everyone thought was a “goner,” emerged from the murky depths to bring God’s message of salvation to a lost and dying people. In so doing, he became a wonderful representation of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and life-giving message.” [1]
Jonah said to the Lord, “You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God.” As his soul was beginning to faint, he remembered the Lord and prayed. He realized, “Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy.” The Ninevites were idolators. Unless they turned from idols to God, they would not be saved. “Salvation is of the Lord.”
“So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” Jonah 2:10
That truly was a great fish. He swallowed Jonah and became his mode of transportation to reach land. The fish followed the Lord’s directions. The Lord used him to save Jonah. Now, if God can use a fish to save a man, how much more can God use a man to preach the Gospel that saves people’s souls?
In Mark 16:15, after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus said to His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.”
[1] GotQuestions.com
The Lord Jesus has graced me with revelations from the Book of Jeremiah that are helpful to better understanding the relevance of the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. I am in the midst of preparing 54 video-recorded presentations, one for each chapter of Jeremiah, plus an intro and conclusion presentation. When the presentations are done, I plan to publish them on YouTube. I also welcome invitations to share these revelations in-person. In the meantime, I publish articles online, intercede for the peoples of the nations, and say to the Lord, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
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