Micah 4:1-2
The House of the LORD Is Raised
From the deepest humiliation, shown in the last verse of the previous chapter (Mic 3:12), Zion will be raised to the highest glory in the future. God’s last word is not judgment. In fact, glory can only come after the judgment of sin. That is the miracle of the cross. Every blessing is based on the work of Christ on the cross, including the future blessing of Israel. It is striking that the three opening verses (Mic 4:1-3) are almost word-for-word similar to some of the verses in the beginning of Isaiah 2 (Isa 2:2-4). A discussion about who has copied from the other is useless. Both have written by the Holy Spirit. And He has found it good that both have included the same scene in the same words in their prophecy.The expression “in the last days” or “in latter days” is used more often by the prophets (Jer 49:39; Dan 2:28; Dan 10:14; Hos 3:5). They refer to the time when the Messiah takes over the government of (the restored) Israel and the world. Then the time of blessing for Israel will come. Also the nations will share in the blessing by coming to the center of this blessing, the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. In the present time the messengers of the Lord go out to the nations, but then the nations will come from everywhere to Zion.The mountain of the house of the LORD is the temple mountain, Mount Moriah. If we look at that mountain now, it is not literally “the chief of the mountains”. Spiritually seen, that mountain will be the chief. What makes it the chief or most valued mountain is the temple that stands there. It cannot be excluded that in the future the temple mountain will also literally be the highest mountain. This can be God’s work. In the time of the great tribulation there will be enormous natural disasters (Rev 16:18). It is possible that because of this the landscapes will undergo great changes and for example the temple mountain will be raised above the hills. There is also a spiritual significance for the church today. The church is now the house of God (1Tim 3:15). God has placed the church on earth to hold and uphold the truth as the pillar and support of the truth. When believers faithfully serve the Lord Jesus in obedience to His Word, they fulfill God’s purpose with the church. Their lives then stand out morally far above the lives of people who do not take God into account. The result may be that unbelievers are attracted to get to know that God.From Zion Will Go Forth the Law
Because on that chief of the mountains stands the house of the God of Jacob, the nations will go there. Then they will come from Washington, Brussels and Moscow and all the other cities where now the policy of the world is being made, to learn from “the God of Jacob”. Instead of going up to fight against Jerusalem (Mic 4:11), they come because they want to learn from God how He wants them to walk (cf. Zec 8:20-23). The teaching is “about His ways”, the ways of the LORD, how He does things. Studying them will teach them how to walk themselves. These paths are ways that God has gone and is going in His relation to people and on which He leads them. With the exhortation “come” they will encourage each other to follow this teaching. The words “for from Zion” and so on are again words of the prophet and not of the nations. They indicate the reason why the nations are so zealous for the mountain of the LORD. Zion is the source of the law, the constitution of the kingdom. From it the nations derive education for a walk in the ways of God. With the knowledge of the law they have gained and accepted there, they go back to their homeland. There they pass on the received teaching of the law, so that their people will walk in accordance with it. The order is important: first teaching, then practice. Only when we have learned from the Lord can we walk in His way. The Christian who lives in peace with God will have the same longing in his heart as the nations of the future. With him there is no contradiction between practice and the teaching of Scripture. There will be no contempt for studying Scripture as if it comes down only to practical Christendom. How can there be practice if we have not learned what to practice?
Copyright information for
KingComments