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, February 3, 1991.

And we are reading from the seventh verse to the end of the chapter. This is Micah, chapter five, beginning at verse seven. Hear the word of God. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a do from the Lord. as the showers upon the grass that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.

And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off, and it shall come to pass. In that day, saith the Lord, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots, and I will cut off the cities of the land, and throw down all thy strongholds, and I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers. Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee, and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy cities. And I will execute vengeance and anger and fury upon the heathen. such as they have not heard.

Every once in a while it is good for me, and I hope for you, to review with you something of my approach to preaching. Now, I know how it goes in some places, and with events as they are in the world presently, you may hope from the pulpit to receive some sort of direction with respect to current events.

There is that approach to preaching that takes as its text the morning headlines. And exposition has to do with expounding for you then current events, recent happenings in the world around us. There are others who take as their starting place the interaction of religion generally conceived with the institutions of society. This is sociological in its orientation and finds its drive and direction from an analysis. of the relationship that exists between the various establishments in the world. And then, probably most popular of all, there is that approach to the pulpit that is concerned with the subconscious or the inner workings of the mind, as if the pew were a couch and I were an analyst.

Oh, that you were paying me that kind of salary. But I think that you realize, at least I hope you do, that as much as what I have to say or the pulpit may have to say about current events, about the relationship of institutions in this world, the relationship that they sustain to religion, or what I may have to say or this pulpit may declare with regard to the subconscious or the psychological workings of our minds and spirits, still at the forefront, taking precedent over all, is the Word of God. Is there a reason why?

In Protestant architecture, the pulpit is exalted, not for the sake of the man, but for the sake of the Word. It is the Word over all. Isn’t it interesting that the Word in the pulpit is exalted above the table? Now, it isn’t like that in every church, you see. For in some traditions, The table is transformed into an altar and exalted to a position above the Word. It is the Word above all else. And the table becomes an exposition of the Word, a demonstration of the Word before your eyes, in signs and in symbols. So, it is the Word of God. But having established that point, we haven’t settled every matter, have we? For there are various ways to approach the Word, the Word of God, the Scriptures.

Now, I know how it is in many evangelical circles, because, you see, I grew up an evangelical, and I know how I used to read the Bible. I know how I used to be preached to. My custom was to read the Bible until I got a jolt, until there was this power surge. And then I would sort of light up and touch down on that text and grab it and make it my own and run with it for a while, all the time looking for another text that would give me a jolt, a power surge. Well, of course, there’s a problem with that. There are lots of texts, in fact it may seem to you a majority of texts, that don’t have any power surges in them at all. You read them and they do nothing for you. They just don’t grab you.

But we have to understand, don’t we, that the Bible, the Word of God, comes to us in its integrity, in its wholeness. It is meant to be read that way. It is meant to be heard that way. It is meant to be appropriated that way. So the text may not turn you on.

The point, however, is that you hang with the text. so that the text may work with you and open up for you the mind of God. So it’s important that you work through texts as you hear them, as you read them, that you be sensitive to the integrity of Scripture, the integrity of the Word of God, that there is an inner coherence here in the Word, and you are to profit from the movement of the Spirit of God as that Spirit is at work upon the mind of God’s servant, in this case, this morning, the prophet Micah. Now, you might have been listening as we moved our way through, and I hope you were listening, as we moved our way through the latter verses of Micah 5. And you may have been thinking to yourself, well, there’s no power surge found here for me. Why should I long linger over these verses? But I want you to think about these verses now in terms of the integrity of the prophet, the integrity of the Spirit of God, who is truly the author thereof.

I want you to note the transition that occurs in the text as you move from the 9th verse to the 10th verse. It can be helpful for you if you have a text in front of you. If you don’t, I’ll do my best to try and spell this out for you as we go. There is definitely a shift, a transition, a change as you move from that 9th verse to the 10th verse. This is how we might describe it, at least from one point of view. You will note that this 9th verse is part and parcel of what the Prophet has been speaking of from verse 2 in the 5th chapter. It’s all of a piece there.

You remember that grand and glorious 2nd verse of the 5th chapter of Micah. But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrata, 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, that’s a glorious passage, and that’s one of the texts from Micah that we all remember, because it relates so pointedly and so wonderfully to Jesus Christ and his eventual birth. But the text goes from verse two through verse nine, and you’ll note the descriptions that are given in those verses.

And the image that dominates, the image is military. We’re told about a ruler. We’re told about his power. We’re told about his strength, his might, his glory. We’re told about how great he will be to the ends of the earth. and how resident in this one is the peace which the world longs for. And that takes us down to the beginning statement of the fifth verse. That the one who is in view, truly the Messiah, the one who is in view is portrayed in military terms. He is a ruler. He is a great and mighty ruler. He is a warrior, if you will.

Then you move into the latter part of verse 5 and also verse 6, and here the concept is expanded a bit. We’re told about the Assyrians who have invaded the land of Judah. They will not prevail, says the prophet. Instead, we are told that seven shepherds—note the last line of the fifth verse—seven shepherds and eight principal men will be raised up by God, and these Shepherds and principal men are also described in military terms, for we’re told in the very next verse that they will feed the land of Assyria with the sword. That’s pretty graphic. The image is military, and then, towards the latter part of that sixth verse, you have The ruler, once more introduced, that one that was spoken of in verse 2, he is introduced to you again. He will deliver us from the Assyrian, we are told, when the Assyrian attacks our land, when he tramples upon our territory.

But we’re not done in verses 7 through 9. The image is compounded once more, not only with regard to the ruler, not only with regard to these seven shepherds, these eight principal men, but now, according to verse 7 and verse 8, the remnant of Jacob. The remnant of Jacob is also described in military terminology. Note, for instance, that eighth verse, “‘The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, if he passes through, tramples down and tears, and there is none who can deliver. Your hand,’ verse 9, “‘will be lifted up against your adversaries, and all your enemies will be cut off.'” So you get the picture.

Can’t help but be impressed with the power of the imager. But then you move into verse 10, and suddenly you’re brought to a screeching halt. And in that day, declares the Lord, I will cut off your horses from among you and destroy your chariots. I will cut off your cities. and I will tear down all of your fortresses of defense.” Do you see the problem?

The military imagery is so prominent as you move from verse 2 through verse 9, then you get to verse 10 and verse 11, and what do you find? You find a description there that makes it utterly impossible for the people in view to be a military power at all.

It may suggest that maybe different people are in view, or maybe the prophet’s talking about a different time. No, he’s talking about the same people. You note the personal pronouns that are used as you move from verse 9 to verse 10? direct-of-dress for your hand will be lifted up, then verse ten, verse nine, your hand will be lifted up, then verse ten, I will cut off your horses from among you, and verse eleven, I will tear down your fortifications, the personal pronoun that is used there. No, it’s the same people being described here. Well, maybe there’s another time, and maybe there’s A time warp here of some sort. We’ve moved into some other time frame. Well no, you see how verse 10 begins. The Lord declares, in that day, and it will be or it will come about in that day. That is, in precisely the same time that these other events that I’ve described are taking place.

But you’re left thinking, how can both be true? How can these people, whom the Prophet has described, be at once a military power, an army on the march, and at the same time a people completely devoid of any military power whatsoever. In fact, left utterly defenseless. Their offensive weaponry has been removed, their horses and their chariots, their defenses have also been removed, their cities and their fortresses have been destroyed. How is it possible?

For you see, the prophet is laying before you, so powerfully, so wonderfully, this complexion of images, so that you would understand the magnificence of the gospel. The Holy Spirit then, in the latter verses, seems to be undoing the images that have been laid out so powerfully in the previous verses. He seems to be taking images of power and superimposing upon them images of powerlessness. In fact, he is saying that your power is found in your powerlessness.

It is only as you are stripped of all of these powerful things that you become the mighty army that marches. It is only as you become weak that you become strong. Isn’t this consistent with what we find in other places? Do you remember Jesus and what he has to say in the Garden of Gethsemane? Peter has unleashed his sword. He’s unleashed that sword to fight with it. And Jesus says, put up your sword. Those who live by the sword shall die by it. Do you remember the interview a little later on with Pilate? Jesus tells him, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight. But my kingdom is not of this world.

Have you surveyed the book of Acts recently? Have you noted how powerful the Church appears, how it makes progress with the Word of God in hand? Not by military might. but in what the world would judge to be weakness. The Church appears to be ineffectual, powerless, but yet in that very powerlessness, it triumphs. It becomes the mighty army.

What need I say of the Apostle Paul? On a personal level, you remember how he struggles with the foreign in the flesh, and prays to God repeatedly that that thorn would be removed, and the Lord refuses, and finally the Lord says to Paul, My power is perfected in weakness. My power is perfected in weakness.

Why? Why do you think that’s the case? Why is that the way the Lord deals with His people and with the world? Because by that very means, He confounds the world. and he humbles his people. What is the liability as you move through those opening verses of Micah 5, verses 2 through 9? The liability is that you’ll be puffed up in your pride, thinking mighty well of yourselves. As you approach the end of that fifth chapter, why, these are the things that we are destined for. Who is going to be able to resist us? Why, we are the greatest people in the world.

But in a stroke, the prophet Micah strikes you down, tumbles you on the spot, in order that you might know. But God is the one who is supreme in His power, and by His power alone do you live and conquer. There is then in this the message of the supremacy of God’s power.

As you, in the latter verses now, are looked upon as utterly defenseless, how are you going to conquer the world? All of your armaments have been removed from you. You cannot go out with sword in hand and make the Islamic nations submit. But what weapon is there in your hand? The weapon of the Word of God. It is the sword. There’s one other lesson here for you.

Not just that, with regard to the supremacy of the power of God, but also the supremacy of the grace of God. I think you realize the liability as you read through those opening verses of chapter five. Not only are you thinking well of yourself, you’re thinking that there’s something in you that is meritorious. You, in fact, deserve God’s good favor to be enlisted in this army that He has worked up and organized. So I want you to note the subtleties of these verses at the end, and ask you the question, to whom are they principally addressed? I might ask you again, to whom do those personal pronouns refer?

Do they not refer to the remnant of Jacob? Is not the remnant of Jacob spoken of in verses 7 and 8 considered righteous in the sight of God? Are they not the ones who have been oppressed by those who are wicked in Israel, who have risen up to take advantage of them?

But yet now, the remnant is addressed as if it were unrighteous. the righteous are addressed as if they were unrighteous also. And they can’t walk away from that description, for they too are numbered with the hosts of Israel, and they see their law as one with Israel, as God’s judgments come upon Israel for the sake of humbling those people. And not only so, Not only will it be a matter of them understanding their identity with a sinful people, much like unto what Isaiah confessed in the temple, Lord, I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. No, it won’t be just merely an acknowledgment on the part of the righteous that they are of a peace with the unrighteous of the nation of Israel. They will accept that identification as their own. They will take upon themselves the unrighteousness of all of the others and bear that in themselves. So will be their understanding of the nature of sin and the nature of grace.

Isaiah the prophet will then voluntarily number himself with the unrighteousness. Micah will place himself in the company of those who are oppressing the remnant in his own time. All of this pointing forward to the one who is truly unrighteous, the one who is truly righteous, the one who then numbers himself with sinners, that they might be rescued. Why Jesus Christ himself is preached by Micah. How wonderfully that is displayed throughout the history of redemption. What about the activity of Moses? Don’t destroy them. Destroy me. What about David when he is overtaken in sin? He says, Don’t destroy the city, Lord, for me. What about the apostle Paul in the ninth chapter of Romans, when he says, I wish that I myself might be accursed if it meant the salvation of my countrymen after the flesh.

He’s not, then, just Jesus by himself alone, who in his righteousness numbers himself with those who are unrighteous, identifying himself with them for their good. But all, then, who would name his name must do the same. Can you cut yourself off from the unrighteous and consider yourself better than they?

Or do you have a heart that pleads to God on their behalf and praise for their reconciliation? Well, great stuff in texts that may not at first glance give you a jolt. But here is material laid out in front of you, proclaiming wonderfully the supremacy of God’s power and the supremacy of the grace of the Lord. Let us pray.

Your ways are inscrutable. Lord, except you reveal your ways in your mind to us, how do we know them? And how marvelously, Lord, you are exalted in that you take the weak and you choose to exalt yourself through them. And you even take those who are unrighteous. and to exalt yourself. In that. That we might know. That it is all by your power. And all by your grace. Our deliverance is not in our own might. Nor because of our merit. It is because of you. Through Jesus Christ our Savior. And him alone.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.