Prophesying Rightly - Micah 3

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.”