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 24, 1991.

of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto thee, that is, to be ruler in Israel. his goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up until the time that he which traveleth hath brought forth, that the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.

And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall bind. For now shall he be grave unto the ends of the earth, and this man shall be our peace. When the Assyrians shall come into our land, and when he shall tread deep in our palaces, then shall be grave against him seven shepherds and eight principal men. They shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword and the land of Nimrod and the entrances thereof. Thus shall He deliver us from the Assyrian when he cometh into our valley and take the tribes within our borders.

And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord as the showers upon the grass, that carrieth 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. at the young lion of the flocks of sheep who, if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

Thine hand shall be lifted up upon by the adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. And it shall come to pass in that day, sayeth 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 Thy land and throw down all Thy strongholds, and I will cut off witchcrafts out of Thy hand, and Thou shalt have no more soothsayers. Thy raven images also will I cut off, and Thy standing images all out of the midst of Thee, and Thou shalt no more worship the work of Thy hands. And I will pluck up Thy groves out of the midst of Thee, so will I destroy Thy cities.” And I will execute vengeance and anger and fury upon the leader, such as they have not heard.

So, as we come to the conclusion of our messages on Micah and the Messiah, I want to call your attention to a couple of passages from the New Testament. I want you to look, first of all, at Luke’s Gospel, the last chapter of that Gospel. I want you to consider some things that the risen Christ has said with respect to his relationship to the scriptures, to the scriptures of the Old Testament. Now, Luke, Chapter 24, is one of those glorious texts.

It tells us about the trip of the two disciples who are leaving Jerusalem and going down to their hometown of Emmaus, and they are joined by one they don’t recognize, who happens to be, of course, the risen Christ. They express their confusion, and then Christ speaks to them, verse 25, “…O foolish men and sloth are to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.” The prophets there are mentioned. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?

Then we have this comment from Luke, and beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. I want you to turn the page now, look at the end of Luke’s gospel, the verses further on there. Jesus meets with the disciples on the eve of His resurrection, and in verse 44 you have Him speaking this way, “‘These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you. that all things which are written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Now, we want to join what is said here by Christ at the end of Luke with what he says in transit to the leaders of Israel in John, Chapter 5. If you’ll turn over to John’s Gospel and notice what Jesus says while he’s debating the Jewish leaders.

He makes this accusation. the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. This is verse 39. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is these that bear witness of me. You move down the page a little bit, you note as well verse 46, for if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. Now, what I am doing in pointing these passages out for you is calling your attention to the centrality of the person of Christ, the centrality of the person of the Messiah to the Old Testament Scriptures.

The matter is so serious that if you miss the Messiah, if you miss the Christ, you miss the point. you don’t understand what the Scriptures were saying. You cannot understand Moses. You cannot understand the Psalms. You cannot understand the prophets, unless you have come to grips with the Messiah, with the Christ.

Now, what we say, generally, with regard to the Old Testament, we say specifically, with respect to the prophet Micah. If we have not grasped the Christ, we will not grasp Micah. For the Christ stands at the center of the prophet’s message. Now we have been looking at Micah 4 and 5. A rather difficult section, to be sure, in Micah’s prophecy.

But we have noted the theme of the section. Take a look again at the first verse of the fourth chapter, as that theme is set out for you. And it will come about in the last days. There’s the theme, and that theme is going to persist to the end of the fifth chapter. It is reiterated in a different way in the sixth verse of that fourth chapter.

In that day, declares the Lord, I will assemble the outcasts, etc. So, we have the theme spoken of here, set out for us by Micah, the last days, also spoken of under the heading of the day of the Lord, in that day, and that theme is reiterated in the tenth verse of the fifth chapter, and it will come about in that day, declares the Lord, etc., etc. So, the theme of the section has been well set before us, the last days or the day of the Lord, and in the midst of this consideration of these last days, the day of the Lord, stands the messianic figure, the figure of the Son, the Christ.

We meet the Christ explicitly in these verses. A passage known well to us. How many features of the Messiah can you now illuminate in these verses? If you want some simple methods for Bible study, here’s one for you. Going through Scripture, can you articulate lists for yourself, characteristics of the Christ? Here they are laid out for us rather explicitly.

For instance, we are told that he is to be born as a man. He is to arise out of obscurity, a little town of no consequence really, within the territories of Judah. out of that city David had arisen previously, and in the latter day, in the last day, the Messiah himself, David’s greater Son, shall come forth from that tower as well. So we have his place of birth. That, of course, underscoring is humanity.

We are told that this one is destined, like Father David, to be a ruler over God’s people. He shall be a king. A king indeed. And our mind raises to the end of John’s Gospel and that discussion that Jesus had with Pilate concerning the nature of his king. Are you a king? Pilate asks. not that you would recognize me as such, for my kingdom is not of this world. But yes, we became destined to rule God’s people. But we are also told in that second verse that the conclusion of it that this one who is born in Bethlehem, who is destined for rule, is actually one who comes forth from eternity, from days of old.

From one of the… And coupled then with this affirmation of humanity, there is this suggestion of divinity, deity. So much that man, being in life his day, would have understood that, or grasped the point. In fact, when Jesus appears, it’s a matter of great offense that the Christ should claim to be divine. God in the flesh. But nevertheless, here in Micah’s prophecy, written 700 years before the coming of Christ, we have this affirmation that this One shall in fact be divine, deity of the Lord, coming forth from the days of eternity, as in eternity itself, we’re being issued for Him, of Him. that this one shall rise, verse 4, this one shall rise to shepherd his people. Some have suggested that there is a hint here of resurrection, of exaltation, that there is movement imbued from a state of humiliation to a state of exaltation, that there is a vain reference here to the resurrection of Christ.

In his resurrection, then, he shall shepherd his people, and his people shall abide. They shall persevere. His reign will be universal. He will be great, we are told, to the ends of the earth, both geographically and chronologically. He will be great to the ends of the earth. And then that incomparable affirmation in the beginning of verse 5, this One in His person shall be our peace.

Peace is found in Him. Well, there is this explicit description, then, of the Messiah who stands centrally in Micah’s consideration of the last days, who stands centrally to the prophecy of Micah as a whole. But there are other explicit references to him here. You move into the sixth verse towards the latter part of it there, and you note one other explicit reference to the one who has been described previously in verses two through four in the beginning part of the fifth verse. He is described here as the one who in actuality will deliver his people from the threat of the Assyrians.

You might think that we are caught in some kind of time warp here. The Assyrians, of course, were a problem for Israel. in the 8th and 7th century. Jesus wasn’t born until 700, 600 years later. How is it that Micah can assert that the Messiah, this prince who arises out of Bethlehem, will in fact be the one who breaks the yoke of Assyria?

Well, you see, in the triumph that is effective for God’s people even then, My faith is asserting the pattern and the power of the Messiah at work. Even before the time, he is asserting this magnificent power and strength. Well, he is perceived there and explicitly mentioned. Others have suggested that there may well be an explicit mention of the Messiah in the first person picture. In fact, he does.

So this is a huge text, but there you read at the end of that verse how the judge of Israel will be smitten upon his king. Truly suffering humiliation. We read this from Micah’s contemporary, Isaiah, of how the servant of the Lord, the messianic figure, will in fact be stricken. He will be beaten. He will be abused. We are told by the prophet Zechariah, years later, of how the shepherd will be smitten and the sheep will be scattered.

And some, then, have suggested that the conclusion of this first verse in the fifth chapter is a reference, then, to the humiliation that comes to the Messianic figure, to the Messiah. So we have a rather full description in these verses of this one who is central to the prophet’s concern and interest. But while there are the explicit and direct references to the Messiah, there are also vague, indirect, and implicit references to him. And here’s where the complications begin.

There is a subtlety to prophetic literature. We do well to study the prophets. We do well to tune our hearing into the complexities and the subtleties that are found within the prophets. For instance, if you look at that fifth verse again, a point that we have made before, that you will note there at the end of that fifth verse, seven shepherds are mentioned and eight principal men. The mention of the shepherds correlates with what we have already found.

What happens to you happens to me. You yourself, denominated by the name of Christ, you bearing His name, you becoming Christ’s, as it were, before the world. You, His people, in whom is perceived the very pattern and reality of the Christ who serves. Then you need not wait to the New Testament for these things to come to the fore. implicitly, indirectly, to be short, somewhat in a veiled fashion. But they are here, nonetheless, for your benefit.

But then there is the most difficult and more difficult of considerations with which now Micah concludes this big chapter. verses 10-14, how in fact the Messiah’s word is powerfully inferred from these verses. In order to get the full force of what is said here, we have to take into consideration once more what Micah has done in the previous verses.

He has depicted for us The coming days for the nation of Israel, the faith that awaits Judah, and it’s not a very quick picture, for what is awaiting them is destruction and exile, but yet as the Messiah now is superimposed upon those experiences, those experiences which are desperate, desperate to the uttermost, are transformed into glorious experiences. Experiences in which the people of God triumph.

The destruction of Judah becomes a victory. The exile becomes a conflict, a conflict of nations. The most desperate experience is transformed into glory. There is less of it. Not just for the people of God as a whole, but for every one of you individually. The greatest grief you can imagine, as it has the Christ superimposed upon it, is changed into a joy and a triumph. and ultimately a good for you.

Now, you might object or say, well, the people that experienced these things, the judgment came upon Judah because of her sin, did it not? Yes. They were despicable, were they not? They deserved it, did they not? They were ungracious, were they not? Those that went into exile, were they not driven into exile because of their sin?

Yes, that is true. But do you see what’s happening here? The righteousness and the glory of the Messiah transforms even the unrighteousness of the people into righteousness and holiness and purity, so that they look, they look wonderfully bright and beautifully clothed. But the process is reversed as you come to verses 10-14. The previous verses, the unrighteous are treated as if they are righteous, but now, in verses 10-14, you have the righteous treated as if they were unrighteous.

What do you think of Michael? Was he an idolater? How is he to relate to what is said here? Is he one who trusted in the honor of flesh in fortresses that were being built all over the land of Judah? No, he trusted in the Lord. He was, in fact, righteous in the sense that he trusted in the Lord and he didn’t resort to sorcerers as a witchcraft and to idolatry.

But these are the very sins that are spoken of in these latter verses. And now, and now, as Micah makes his conclusion to this section, even though there are those who have not turned aside to idolatry, they are described at one as if they have with all those who have, in fact, practiced idolatry. The very activity of the Messiah’s love is at work here.

There will be no vain boast, I am righteous, they are unrighteous. The word that will come forth from the righteous one in the day of calamity is this, I am numbered with an unrighteous people. I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips. I number myself with them. I choose Allah that throws me into their company. I will find a place for them, they the unrighteous, me with them unrighteous as well. When we start describing things along that line, what we are witnessing is the very motion of Mosiah as he numbers himself with the unrighteous that they might be redeemed.

So great is his love. What about Micah? Does he love Judah? Does he love Jerusalem? Does he weep for her? Read chapter 1 verse 8. He weeps and they are healed. Read the 9th verse of the 7th chapter and his own confession of sin as he numbers himself with the sinful people. So great is his love. The very Messiah is coming to expression in the activities and person of the prophet. And that is what is compelling and constraining upon all those who would name the prophet. You see, the motion and activities of the Christ in his love is so that he might be numbered with those whom he loves for their sake. And what about you? Will you draw back?

Insist upon your innocence. Claim that you’re not implicated. That though the people of God have come under fire, that their life has been spoiled by sin. They face to face with their own depravity. You aren’t involved. What church did you exit to get here? That’s a fair question for an open congregation. Do you imagine yourself righteous because of that, somehow sent? Unconcerned about the fate of Rome? Unconcerned about the fate of Riverside Drive? I’m concerned about the fate of the World Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches. We held ourselves to lose.

That you would weep for them, and weep tears that evidenced the fact that you loved them, and wished that they were reconciled to God and to the Christ they plain deserved, and that you would pour out your heart for them. As Micah poured out his heart for the Israel of his day, and that after the image of the place to which he comes, who pours out his heart unto death. Well, there is Micah and the Messiah. Glorious in its explicit references, wonderful in its implicit references, and the usher of it all. Hallelujah. What a savior.

Our God, we pray that you would drive us on, not simply with respect to the explicit features of the Messiah that are portrayed for us well and openly, from the pages of the Prophets. Our God, may we take to heart the subtle and implicit messages wherein we have face-to-face with the love of our Saviour, who numbered himself with the unrighteous, casting his lock with them, that they might be brought to repentance and reconciliation. O Lord, we ask that we may have a similar frame of mind and disposition of heart that we would plead on behalf of this congregation in such a way where we place ourselves in the position of others. And not only that, with respect to the Church as a whole, and with respect to those who may well have deserted, or abandoned, or rejected, or turned away, O God, we pray We may plead with him for them with Messiah-like love and action.

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.