Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:02]
Tara Leigh Cobble
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Leigh Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Today we finished our 20th book of the Bible. Congratulations. We're still hovering over the same time period, and we will be for a while. We'll continue to switch back and forth between a variety of prophecies and some of the narrative history portions like Kings and Chronicles, where we'll often see those prophecies being fulfilled. Today we're in another minor prophet, Micah. I find his writing style very confusing, so I'm really glad he's not a major prophet, just seven chapters instead of 70. He's sometimes viewed as Isaiah Jr. Because God appointed them both to speak the same message to the same people in approximately the same time frame. One primary difference, apart from the length, is that Isaiah's message was directed more toward the ruling authorities, where while Micah speaks mainly to the general population, he even opens by saying, here you peoples, all of you pay attention. He says. God is about to take action against their sins, and one of God's first moves is to trample down the high places. Finally, he addresses the sins of Israel in its capital Samaria, as well as Judah and its capital Jerusalem. And when God sends destruction, Micah tells them how to grieve and mourn. And it seems they're supposed to do it privately, possibly because if news of their grief reaches the enemy nations, they'll rejoice over their destruction. First, Micah calls them out on the same things we've already talked about, stealing land from the poor and oppressing them. In Micah's words, we see that greed may start with just wanting more stuff, but it eventually becomes so all encompassing that you begin to oppress others in order to find a way to get that stuff. Stuff. They're oppressing the poor and lining their pockets. And God is a defender not only of the poor but also of his own righteous standards. In chapter three, Micah gives examples of how the rulers, the priests, and the prophets are all wicked. 39 says they detest justice and make crooked all that is straight. These leaders in the land hate good and love evil. A few days ago we read where the minor prophet Amos spoke to this problem too. Amos 5:15 says, Hate evil and love good and establish justice in the gate. I'm starting to sense a theme among all these prophets. The leaders and the people, however, are not noticing that theme. They hear these oracles and say, that's not going to happen to us. We're too powerful. 3:11 says they lean on the Lord and say, is not the Lord in the midst of us, no disaster shall come upon us. They're arrogant and in denial, but Micah reiterates that they won't escape this destruction. Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, he says. In 4:10, he says, you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country. You shall go to Babylon. I don't want to give too many spoilers, since we're still in the middle of the story here, but this is so specific that I have to point out that this literally happens. Not only is Jerusalem destroyed like he said, but the people are driven into exile in Babylon. Micah prophesied it in the 8th century BC and it happened in the 6th century BC. It's historical fact. Way to go, Micah. Micah offers several warnings, but he always follows with a reminder that destruction and exile aren't the end for them. A remnant will be preserved and God will begin to establish a kingdom of peace on the earth. God even says he'll gather the ones he has wounded and driven out of the land and he'll carry them back to the land. So even though they do go into Babylonian captivity, they can expect to be back in this land someday. And Micah5,2 says that when they return, the king who will rule this new kingdom of peace will be born in Bethlehem, Ephrathah, which you may recall is how they specify which of the two Bethlehems in the promised land this is referring to. It's important for them to know that their Savior won't be some kind of outside help. He will come from among them. They've been looking to other nations and other gods of other nations to rescue them for too long. But their Savior, the one true God, will dwell in their midst, even in this land of oppression. But again, they're thinking literal king, not eternal king. They read this prophecy and imagine someone who can overpower Assyria and Babylon, not someone who will overpower death and the grave. But that's exactly what Jesus did, the shepherd king who was born In Bethlehem, Ephrathah, 700 years after this was written. And then Micah says that the faithful remnant will be dispersed again to live among the nations. 5:7 says, the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations in the midst of many peoples. You guys, this happened too. It. It was about 30 years after Jesus died when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, its second destruction. And the Jews fled the city again roughly 600 years after they were exiled to Babylon. Except this time, when those Jewish and Gentile believers who made up the early church were dispersed among the nations. They took the Gospel of the resurrected Jesus with them, and it began to spread around the world. That happened in 70 AD. I know I'm getting ahead of the timeline here, but I just want you to see that lots of these prophecies have already been fulfilled in ways that history has recorded and verified. And these prophecies that sound so tragic to us in many ways, God used them as a part of his plan to get the Gospel to you and to me. But back to Micah. In chapter six he circles back around to remind the people that God is after their hearts, not their empty ritual sacrifices, and he calls on them to repent. Micah has witnessed the destruction of Israel and he knows the destruction of Jerusalem is coming. He knows a holy judge can't leave sin unpunished, and sin in Israel and Judah is rampant. It must be hard for him to see all this darkness and not be wrecked by it. But he sets his heart on straight in 7:7 when he says, as for me, I I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. I had about five God shots today, so it was hard to narrow it down to my favorite, but I went with a little section in 545 because it reminds me that his greatness, not my own, is where my only peace and security are found. Micah says it like this and they shall dwell secure, for for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and he shall be their peace. When he increases and I decrease, that's where I find my greatest peace. He's where the joy is I'm a big fan of the Dwell Audio Bible app, not just because I'm an auditory learner, but because for thousands of years people have engaged with scripture by hearing it, and listening is still one of the best ways to connect with God's Word. We've partnered with Dwell to bring my daily recaps right into their app. Not only can you listen to each day's reading, but you can also hear my recaps right inside the app. If you're reading along with TBR in 2025, check out the Dwell Audio Bible app. Look for it in the App Store or Google Play and get a free 7 day trial or click the link in the Show Notes right around this time of year. Back in 2022, my team and I set up a studio, blocked ourselves in and filmed for 12 hours a day for 15 days, often without air conditioning despite it being summer in Texas, so we could bring you the Bible recap on YouTube. It was worth it though. This resource is already blessing so many people and we would love for you to be one of them. It's the same content as the audio podcast, but it's my face talking to you on the videos. Forgive me if I'm sometimes a little sweaty. We'd love for you to subscribe, comment and share because we want bible based content to gain more popularity on YouTube and you can help make that happen. You can find us at the link in the show notes or@thebiblerecap.com YouTube.