This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Micah 4-5” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, December 23, 1990.

In the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills. and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.

For the law shall go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people and rebuke strong nations afar and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit, every man, under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken it. For all the people will walk, every one in the name of his God, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.

In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted. And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast off a strong nation, and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even forever. And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion. The kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

Now why dost thou cry out aloud? Is there no king in thee? Is thy counselor perished? for pains have taken thee as a woman in travail. Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail. For now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon. There shalt thou be delivered, there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemy.” Now also many nations are gathered against thee that say, Let her be defiled, and let her eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel.

For he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoof brass. and thou shalt beat in pieces many people, and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.” up our hearts, God, that we would love your word and be drawn to it.

May we come to you to be refreshed and fed, and having been fed well on your word, may we be satisfied and may the delight that we experience in your word be evident to our souls and to all those that we know. At this time, our God, We are praying that that disposition of soul and mind would be ours, so that we hastening to your word would also be a delight to you, since you delight in those who heed your word, obey your commands, and follow the path that is laid out well there. in the word and in Christ Jesus, in whose name we pray.

Amen. Michael’s message is a message of hope. The message that comes forth from this prophet of the 8th century before Christ, this contemporary of Isaiah, the message that comes forth from this servant of God is a message of hope. And we have heard that message of hope read out for us. through the years of our lives, maybe not realizing that that message had come forth for us from God’s servant Micah.

For instance, if you press on from where we ended our reading this morning, you will see that classic text for you there in the 5th chapter, the 2nd verse, but as for you, Bethlehem, too little to be among the clans of Judah. From you one will go forth for me to be a ruler in Israel, his goings forth from long ago, from the days of eternity.” Well, we all recognize that text, don’t we? That text, of course, then coming to us from Micah. Micah’s message, then, is one that is filled with hope. The bottom line will be hope, confidence, faith.

But in route to that goal, there is also this message that he delivers to us with respect to agony. anguish, sorrow and distress. He speaks about that anguish, that sorrow, that distress. He speaks about that agony repeatedly throughout his prophecy. But in compressed form, he places his message with respect to agony and anguish He places before us that message in the 9th and 10th verses of that 4th chapter. Here is how it reads in the New American Standard Version.

Now, why do you cry out loudly? Is there no king among you, or has your counselor perished, that agony has gripped you like a woman in childbirth? and labor to give birth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in childbirth. For now you will go out of the city, dwell in the field, and go to Babylon. There you will be rescued, there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.” In these verses, Micah speaks of an illegitimate anguish and as well of a legitimate anguish, both which are descriptive now of the people of God in Judah and specifically in Jerusalem at this time. The illegitimate anguish is spoken of in verse 9.

He asks the people why they cry out so loudly. He is very graphic in his description, as the conclusion of that verse makes plain. For he compares their cries to that of a woman in labor. And in order to grasp his point, it’s important to realize that he has in mind a continual contraction. An almost unending contraction. The people are crying out and back continually, as if there was a woman who was experiencing a perpetual, unending contraction. But he asks them, he challenges them, why do you cry out so? Well, there is the situation.

If you haven’t noticed, Micah, have you taken time to look around you? Surely you know what’s going on to the north. The Assyrians have completely overrun the land of Israel, the northern kingdom. They have destroyed the capital city of Samaria, and now they have set their sights upon Judah and upon Jerusalem. Take a look around you, Micah.

Isn’t it obvious to you why we should be crying out in the manner that we are? Have you no eyes to see? But Micah challenges them. Have you no faith, with which you might see? He asks them, Is there no king among you? Is there no counselor among you? Has your counselor perished?

To which the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem may reply, Israel had a king, one who sat upon a throne in Samaria. But Micah would have them look even beyond the one who presently sits upon the throne of David. He may take heart, because they have a king that sits upon the throne of David, knowing in the bottom of their hearts that God has made promises with respect to that throne, but yet despite that fact they cry out. Micah challenges them, not simply to look to the throne of David, but even beyond that. Have they no king in their midst? Has your counselor perished? Why, we have a King who is present with us. We have a Counselor that never perishes. For God is our King and he is our Counselor.

There is then that illegitimate anguish and agony It seems even common to the people of God, for the people of God look out upon the face of the earth and they see all of the distressing things that are occurring. They are not strangers to the violence. They are not immune to the assault of wickedness and evil. That is all too plain and apparent to them, but despite that, while they are in the midst of their pain and anguish and agony, crying out to the Lord, there comes the challenge from God’s prophet, Is there not a king among you?

Does not your counselor live? You must not judge by the appearance of things. Things may look desperate. They may even look hopeless. But be assured that that is not the case. The illegitimate anguish and agony that seems all too common for the people of God is born of a lack of faith and trust.

What is the nature of faith anyway? Does it not see those things that are unseen? Does it not hold on to those things that are not apparent? Does it not penetrate beyond the mere appearance of things and grasp those things that are invisible beyond our senses, if you will?

That’s the nature of faith, even in the extremities of our circumstances. Even while we are crying out, giving evidence to our lack of faith, that faith bears persistent witness within our souls with regard to the perpetual confidence and faithfulness that is to be demonstrated in God. By faith, then, we see our King. is present and our counselor lives. Our agony, our anguish is exposed as being illegitimate, born as it is out of a lack of faith. But then we go on to verse 10. be struck by that tenth verse, because in verse 9 it seems as if the prophet is bawling the people out. He is actually reproving them for their loud cries and the anguish and agony that they are expressing, but then In verse 10, it’s as if he’s reversed himself. He wishes command.

5. Labor to give birth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in childbirth. In verse 9, there seems to be no good reason for the people to be crying out loudly, but in verse 10 there is every good reason it seems for them to be crying out loudly. What was illegitimate in verse 9 has become legitimate in verse 10, where they were not to cry out in agony in verse 9, now they are to cry out in agony and anguish in verse 10. What’s going on here?

It is the contrast of the two types of agony and anguish, the one improper, the other proper. So when we come into verse 10, we are dealing with a proper kind of anguish, an anguish in fact which the people of God are obliged to cultivate. Not much of a Christmas message, you might say. There is a type of anguish and agony that we are in fact to welcome and embrace.

Here is not only given command, but invitation. It’s almost as if this passage were overlaid with joy itself, as if this writhing, as if this labor, this agony and anguish were good. Profitable, beneficial, helpful, good for us. Everything you can imagine.

Well, as that improper anguish and agony of verse 9 is born of a lack of faith, this anguish and agony in verse 10 is born of hope and faith. Once more, the image of the woman in labor is invoked. The woman who, in labor, goes through the anguish and the pain in hope of the birth of the child, with expectation, looking unto the end.

And therefore, not only is the agony and the anguish to be expected, It is to be welcomed because the end of that agony and anguish is the birth of that child. We accept, then, this sort of agony, We see it as beneficial, as profitable, its end being that which is good, the product of which is our hope come to fruition. In fact, this anguish and agony is inevitable for the people of God. As inevitable as it is for the woman who brings forth a child into the world, so it is inevitable for the people of God, and by root of it, their hope is clarified.

Now the clarification of that hope is something that Micah does not leave in the background. There’s no mystery as to what he has in mind here. You remember in verse 9 how he wrestles with the whole matter of the improper agony that is born of a lack of faith, the inability to see those things which are unseen and the grasp hold of those things which are yet future? Well, here in this tenth verse, he’s going to lay those things squarely before the people and tell them that the anguish and the agony of soul that is theirs, which they must cultivate, which they can’t avoid, is the kind of agony of soul by which they will grasp hold of the full and perfect purpose of God.

And what might that full, perfect purpose of God be? He tells these people who are holding on to Judah and to Jerusalem, to their promised plots of ground in that little land in the Middle East, he’s telling them that they’re going to have to arise and go out of the land, leave it behind and forsake it.

Is your Christian life a mystery to you? Is the agony of soul and your own personal anguish a mystery to you? Do you understand what is going on inside of you, even presently, as God would work his will for you? All of the things that you want in this world, God is telling you, leave them behind. and you will have to agonize, friends you will have to agonize as that hope is clarified in you for your good and you will learn to welcome that agony of soul for it will be a kindness to you though it seems to be so severe For now you will go out of the city, dwell in the field, and go to Babylon.

And having given it all up, you will be saved. For there you will be rescued. There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemy. You have to lose it to gain it. You have to give it up in order to have it. The more you try to possess it, the more you will lose it.

Like his day, the Church was called upon to forsake the land of Canaan for another, in testimony of their faith in God. For us, the Church of today, we are called upon to forsake this world for the next. and how this legitimate anguish and agony will be so perfectly played out.

Yes, as the people of God go into captivity, go to Babylon and are trained by that experience for that which is coming, and then it will seem to all concentrate in a maid from Galilee blessed by God, carrying a child within her womb, she then will literally go through the experiences of that anguish and agony of childbirth, and by that route, deliverance will come into the world.

It was necessary, and that is a premonition of that which comes after her, and with respect to the son she bears. For his anguish, his agony, cannot be averted. He must pass through that necessarily. unto glory, so also for all who are his. Through much tribulation, says the Apostle Paul, we enter into the kingdom of God.

We are given a picture of the world, the world as a woman giving birth. The whole creation is in travail like a woman, until all of the sons of God come to life. for the good of your soul, benefit of your faith, remembering that there is that illegitimate agony born of a lack of faith, but at the same time that legitimate anguish that is born of hope and of faith, which is inevitable and even welcomed by us.

May we all be blessed as we persevere and endure for the sake of our Savior who has gone before us, the one who knows that anguish and that agony, who has come through it himself, that we ourselves may be the victors. Let us pray. Our Father, we ask you that you would work in us with respect to the message of Micah, your prophet. We know at this time of year we are liable to think that the world stops, that death takes a vacation, that sin and evil are held in suspension, but such is not the case, Lord. We know that full well.

Neither is the anguish and agony of soul that is legitimate for the people of God as they look unto the fullness of the redemption that is promised redemption of their bodies and the full adoption of the children of God in the glorious kingdom that is prepared for them. So, Lord, may we also walk in hope and in faith since Jesus Christ has come and the mystery of those messages that were given to Micah so long ago are made clear in him. We pray, our Lord, that you would bless us in this respect, that our hearts may be led to Him, that we may know Him, the power of His resurrection, and also the fellowship of His suffering, that we might be made conformable unto Him, who is our glorious

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