Origins From Of Old

Micah 5:1-2 - Marshal your troops, O city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel's ruler on the cheek with a rod. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.

John 8:58 - "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"

2 Samuel 7:14-16 - I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.' "

Isaiah 9:6-7 - For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Amos 9:11-12 - "In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name," declares the LORD, who will do these things.

Conclusions:

• Jesus has always been
• Jesus kingdom will endure forever
• His kingdom will be just and righteous forever

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Restored

Micah 4:8-13 - As for you, O watchtower of the flock, O stronghold of the Daughter of Zion, the former dominion will be restored to you; kingship will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem." Why do you now cry aloud—have you no king? Has your counselor perished, that pain seizes you like that of a woman in labor? Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you must leave the city to camp in the open field. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued. There the LORD will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies. But now many nations are gathered against you. They say, "Let her be defiled, let our eyes gloat over Zion!" But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD; they do not understand his plan, he who gathers them like sheaves to the threshing floor. "Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron; I will give you hoofs of bronze and you will break to pieces many nations." You will devote their ill-gotten gains to the LORD, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

Zechariah 9:9 - Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Genesis 50:20 - You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Isaiah 45:1-2 - "This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.

Daniel 2:44 - "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.

Conclusions:

• Watchtower of the flock is the capital city of David, the shepherd-king
• The kingdom of David will be restored under the Messiah
• Your king is the Davidic Messianic King
• Righteous means conforming to the divine standard of morality and ethics, particularly as revealed in the Mosaic legislation; a characteristic of the ideal king
• Gentle means humble
• Riding on a donkey was a suitable choice, since the donkey was a lowly animal of peace as well as a princely mount before the horse came into common use
• The royal mount used by David and his sons was the mule
• Joseph's brother's act out of personal animosity toward a brother, had been used by God to save life--the life of the Israelites, the Egyptians and all the nations that came to Egypt to buy food in the face of a famine that threatened the known world
• At the same time, God showed by these events that His purpose for the nations is life and that this purpose would be effected through the descendants of Abraham

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Bloodshed And Bribes

Micah 3:9-11 - Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right; who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness. Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD and say, "Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will come upon us."

Habakkuk 2:12 - "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime!

Exodus 23:8 - "Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.

Ezekiel 13:19 - You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and have spared those who should not live.

Hosea 4:8 - They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness.

Jeremiah 7:4 - Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!"

Ezekiel 34:2 - "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?

Conclusions:

• Babylonian injustice is condemned in Habakkuk 2:12
• Samuel exemplified faithful stewardship with regard to bribes, while his sons did not
• Involvement in religious matters of any kind for mere gain is consistently condemned in the Bible
• Priests devoured the sacrifices, profiting from the continuation of the sin rather than helping to cure it
• The idea that God would not destroy Jerusalem simply because His dwelling, the temple, was located there was a delusion, fostered in part by the miraculous deliverance of the city during the reign of Hezekiah
• Shepherds of Israel are those responsible for providing leadership, especially the kings and their officials, but also the prophets and priests
• The Israelites in Jeremiah's time thought the temple was the buildings that constituted the entire temple complex

Application:

• Are you unjust?
• Do you exemplify faithful stewardship?
• Are you involved in religious matters for mere gain?
• Do you profit from sin or seek to cure it?
• Do you trust in deceptive words?
• Do you only take care of yourself and not your flock?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

He Will Not Answer Them

Micah 3:4-5 - Then they will cry out to the LORD, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done. This is what the LORD says: "As for the prophets who lead my people astray, if one feeds them, they proclaim 'peace'; if he does not, they prepare to wage war against him.

Isaiah 58:4 - Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.

Isaiah 53:6 - We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Conclusions:

• "They" are the leaders.
• Disobedience leads to separation from God
• Hypocritical religious activity is a hindrance to prayer
• The false prophets predicted peace for Judah while Micah predicted destruction and captivity
• Our iniquities are laid on Jesus just as the priest laid his hands on the scapegoat and symbolically put Israel's sins on it

Application:

• Are you disobedient? Are you separated from God?
• Is your religious activity hypocritical?
• Have you gone astray? Have you turned to your own way?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Leaders And Prophets Rebuked

Micah 2:11-3:4 - If a liar and deceiver comes and says, 'I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,' he would be just the prophet for this people! "I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people. One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their king will pass through before them, the LORD at their head." Then I said, "Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice, you who hate good and love evil; who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones; who eat my people's flesh, strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pan, like flesh for the pot?" Then they will cry out to the LORD, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done.

Romans 12:9 - Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Psalm 14:4 - Will evildoers never learn—those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on the LORD ?

Conclusions:

• If I am not just, if I hate good and love evil, God will not answer when I cry out
• My love must be sincere
• If I do not call on the Lord, I am an evildoer.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

The Lord Is Coming

Micah 1:1-5 - The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, O peoples, all of you, listen, O earth and all who are in it, that the Sovereign LORD may witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. Look! The LORD is coming from his dwelling place; he comes down and treads the high places of the earth. The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. All this is because of Jacob's transgression, because of the sins of the house of Israel. What is Jacob's transgression? Is it not Samaria? What is Judah's high place? Is it not Jerusalem?

Isaiah 1:2 - Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.

Psalm 96:13 - Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.

Genesis 32:28 - Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."

Micah 3:8 - But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin.

Micah 5:2-3 - "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.

Conclusions:

• Isaiah begins and ends the book of Isaiah with the condemnation of those who rebel against God
• Isaiah calls on heaven and earth to testify to the truth of God's accusation against Israel and the rightness of His judgment--since they were witnesses of His covenant
• Because God reigns over all things and is the Lord of history, Israel lived in hope of the coming of God--His future acts by which He would decisively deal with all wickedness and establish His righteousness in the earth
• The Lord is coming is an Old Testament expression describing the Lord's intervention in history

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Marks Of Jesus

Galatians 6:17-18 - Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Galatians 1:10 - Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Conclusions:

• In ancient times the Greek word for marks was used of the brand that identified slaves or animals
• Paul's suffering (stoning, beating, illness) marked him as a servant of Christ
• Paul once wore the yoke of slaverey but, having been set free from sin by the redemption that is in Christ, he became a slave of righteousness, a slave of God
• Amen is a word of confirmation often used at the close of a doxology or benediction

Application:

• Are you a slave of righteousness? Are you a slave of God? Have you been set free from sin by the redemption that is in Christ?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible