In case you didn’t know it, there’s
something you should note about the prophets. Each one of them--even the
harshest among them, like Jeremiah and Amos—had a word of hope for Israel. I
mean every one of them. No matter what dire predictions they offered, each one
of the prophets predicted the restoration of Israel someday, frequently at the
end of their writings. Their last word was good news.
And today’s passage really gets to
the heart of the matter. Israel’s main problem wasn’t the economy, or
incompetent leadership, or even the various foreign enemies which surrounded
her. Her main problem—from which all the others flowed or were relatively irrelevant—was
sin. This is what kept the Lord from blessing her as he wanted to. As Isaiah put
it, “[The] Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show
you compassion.” Let’s be clear about this: The Lord was looking for an
excuse to bless them. As soon he could, he would.
One day, he would. That’s the point
of today’s reading. As in the days of the Exodus from Egypt, he would perform a
marvel to behold. All the nations around her would be ashamed of what they had
done, and would seek the Lord out of fear of him.
Now we come to my favorite part of
this. You might not know this, but Micah’s name means “Who is like the Lord?”
The answer to that, of course, is “nobody.” There’s no one like him.
He pardons sin and forgives the
transgression of the remnant of his inheritance. He does not stay angry with
his redeemed people, but. . .bask in this for a moment. . . delights
to show mercy.
That's his heart. The Puritans used
to call the outpouring of his wrath his “strange” work, in the sense of
“unusual.” Most of the time we blithely walk around, completely oblivious to
the multiple ways we’ve offended him. Nonbelievers live out their lives in relative
peace, and the Lord provides for their physical needs and gives other blessings
such as family, friends, fun, etc. Every once in a while, however, he opens up
just a little itty bitty tiny bit of his just wrath in the world, and we’re
wondering what’s going on as we watch the news about a terrible tragedy.
The day is coming in which he'll
have compassion on his people, and will do something he’s never done before. He
will tread their sins underfoot, and will hurl all our iniquities (basically another
word for our sins) into the sea. What sea is this? What ocean could be deep
enough for this? I mean, he’s omnipotent, so what if he changes his mind
someday and decides to dredge up my sins once again?
My friend, that sea is not a sea of
water. It’s a sea of blood. As gross as that might sound to modern ears, it’s
what’s needed. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is deep enough to bury my
sins once and for all. And as I once heard, he throws your sins into the bottom
of that sea and posts a “NO FISHING” sign.
He ends the book with a reiteration of
his faithfulness. He made promises to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and he kept
every one. And he’s shown love and mercy and kindness to Abraham’s heirs, both
the physical ones and those of us who count him as our spiritual forefather.
Has he done this for you? If yes,
then take a moment to say thanks. If not, or if you’re not sure, please see this.
Lord Jesus, I can certainly testify to
the truth of today’s passage. You don’t stay angry with me, but delight to show
mercy. You've trodden my sins underfoot and thrown them into the depths of
your sea. Let me meditate on that for a moment.
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