Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture- Isa 17, 2 Kings 16, Micah
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: Hey, good morning. My name is Philip Thomas, pastor of Journey here in Elgin, Texas, and welcome to our journey through Scripture. And we are at that place now where the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom are reaching a boiling point and they are fighting each other and the Northern Kingdom is about to be destroyed because they have chosen to go their own way. They have not relied on God and that has led to multiple acts of evil that continue to plague these two nations. And so today, if you want to read Isaiah chapter 17, that's just a little bit, 2 Kings 16, we'll read a little bit from there, and then Micah chapters 1 through 7. All right, so Isaiah 17 is kind of Isaiah's talking against and speaking against Syria and Israel. So remember the northern kingdom, Israel, has now made a pact with Syria and they are threatening the southern kingdom. And verse 10 of Isaiah 17 says, because you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not been mindful of the rock of your stronghold, therefore you will plant pleasant plants and set out foreign seedlings. In the day you will make your plant to grow and in the morning you will make your seeds to flourish, but the harvest will be a heap of ruins in the day of grief and desperate sorrow." I thought that's interesting because remember Israel was doing okay economically at this time. They were doing all right there. They had actually conquered some lands and things like that, but they are not they had forgotten the God of their salvation. They had not been mindful of the rock of their stronghold. And that leads to a harvest that is not fruitful. There may be some evidence of things going well, but eventually it's going to fall flat and the consequences are going to be there if you forget the God who brought you to that place. And so Isaiah is telling Israel ⁓ and their ⁓ connection now with Syria that things are about to get bad. And then we see that in ⁓ chapter 16 of 2 Kings. So King Ahaz, the king of the southern kingdom, in response to what Israel was doing, he made a pact with Assyria. So Israel had Syria. ⁓ And the southern kingdom, Judah, had Assyria. And Assyria actually goes in and wipes out Israel, wipes out Syria, and they grow in power. And they have a tenuous relationship now with Judah, with the southern kingdom. And Isaiah, or 2 Kings, chapter 16, starting in verse 10, talks about King Ahaz, and he went to Damascus and... And there he saw ⁓ an altar. Remember, the Northern Kingdom had built altars that did not worship God. And so King Ahaz goes and sees one of these altars, and he really likes the altar. So he tells the priest Uriah to build an altar just like it. So when he gets back to Jerusalem, he actually wants to replace the original altar that God had designed and replace it with this new altar. And so he does that. ⁓ Again, this is evidence that Ahaz is moving further and further away from God. The Southern Kingdom now is moving further and further away from God. Rather than relying on God, they brought in Assyria to help with them. And now things are on a very bad path for them as well. So eventually they're going to have the same fate as the Northern Kingdom. Micah kind of comes in at this time. ⁓ He is a prophet similar to Isaiah. He's prophesying in Judah ⁓ during ⁓ the time of Ahaz ⁓ mainly, but also after Ahaz with Hezekiah. And he speaks to things that are going to happen in Israel, but he also speaks specifically to the destruction of Jerusalem. And so he's speaking to Judah as well. ⁓ He talks a lot, condemns false prophets. ⁓ So he has, you know, a message that is hard for people to hear and they didn't want to hear. Specifically, the leaders did not want to hear his message. But Micah chapter 1 starts off with the coming judgment on Israel. ⁓ There's a...it talks about mourning for Israel. You know, this is not what God desires. God doesn't desire. to suffer these consequences. But whenever you choose to go your own way, that is many times the result. Then you have chapter 2, it talks about the evildoers, the people who are doing evil, that they will be held to account, that God will ⁓ bring judgment. You have lying prophets. It says, ⁓ Do not prattle, you say to those who prophesy, so that they shall not prophesy to you. They shall not return insult for insult. You who are named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord restricted? Are these His doings? Do not my words do good to Him who walks uprightly?" So the prophets that had been hired by the king, they didn't like Micah and they're telling people that Micah is crazy and don't listen to him. And Micah is saying, well, the Lord is speaking to me, where are your words coming from?" And that's always important for us, you know, what voices are we listening to and recognizing that there will be many who claim to be speaking for the Lord. And it makes it tough. It makes it hard as we navigate that. And that's why we have to constantly be coming back to Scripture and looking at the character of God and seeing if the things that are being said and taught if they match what ⁓ God has prescribed. Then we continue on in chapter three, you have ⁓ Micah saying, here now, O heads of Jacob and you rulers of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know justice, you who hate good and love evil? ⁓ So talking about things that are starting to change with the people, the people of Judah are starting to... to go against the Word of the Lord. Verse 5 of chapter 3 says, Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who make my people stray. So this is the prophets of the king who are just listening to the king and they are making the people stray. It says, who chant peace while they chew with their teeth, but who prepare war against him who put nothing into their mouths. Therefore you shall have night without vision. You shall have darkness without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets and the day shall be dark for them. So the seers shall be ashamed and the diviners abashed. Indeed, they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God." So he's saying the prophets and the leaders of the country, they are trying to go their own way and they are not listening to God. And that is just going to bring darkness and judgment. Continuing on in verse 8. But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of justice and might to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. Now hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity, who build up Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity. Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for pay. and her prophets divine for money, yet they lean on the Lord and say, Is not the Lord among us? No harm can come upon us. Therefore, because of you, Zion, shall be plowed like a field. Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins and the mountains of the temple like the bare hills of the forest." So this is clearly Micah in the early part of his ministry before Israel falls, before, obviously, is falling, telling them, this is the path you are on. Wake up. ⁓ Chapter four. Talks about the Lord's reign in Zion and how He will reign. Verse 5 says, for all people walk each in the name of His God, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. says, in that day, says the Lord, I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcasts, and those whom I have afflicted, I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcasts a strong nation. So the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on forever. So he's talking about how he will rebuild and that he will rebuild using those whose society has considered outcast. says, verse 9, now, do you cry aloud? Is there no king in your midst as your counselor perished? For pangs have seized you like a woman in labor. Be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in birth pangs. For now you shall go forth from this city. You shall dwell in the field, and to Babylon you shall go. There you shall be delivered. for the Lord will redeem you from the hands of your enemies." So he's preparing the people, this is going to get bad, but you're going to have to go through this, but God will redeem you in the end. But you're going to have to go through the birthing pains, if you will, in order to get to a new remnant. And then chapter five has a very familiar prophecy. ⁓ Verse 2 says, "'But you, Bethlehem, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.'" So again, that's also mentioned in the Gospels, that Bethlehem is where the true ruler of Israel will come from, that the Messiah will come from Bethlehem. Of course, we see Jesus coming from Bethlehem. continues on judgment on Israel's enemies that eventually that they will receive judgment for their actions as well. Verse 14, I will pluck your wooden images from your midst. Thus I will destroy your cities. I will execute vengeance and anger and fury on the nations that have not heard. God eventually will bring judgment. Chapter 6, just kind of this continue pleading with Israel, please wake up, please turn back to me. Verse 8, he has shown you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. But they are doing none of those. And he's saying, please wake up, listen to what I have taught you. And then it continues, it goes into the punishment that Israel will receive. ⁓ And then in chapter seven is sorrow for Israel's ⁓ sins, ⁓ that they are heartbroken over this. ⁓ And then it gets to the end of chapter seven that is a reminder that God will forgive. It's in verse 19, he does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn to our fathers from days of old." Again, so all of this stuff is going to happen. They are going to go into exile. They're going to go through ⁓ lots of terrible times. But for those who remain faithful, God will continue to be faithful as well. And God does offer... new start and he continues to do that even in the midst of his judgment, there is mercy. And I encourage you to think about that as I read this, I've mentioned it before, I see lots of similarities that we have lost our way as a society, a society that was founded on some basic ideas of biblical principles. and recognizing that, ⁓ we no longer turn to God ⁓ for principles, for understanding. And I believe we're seeing the ramifications of that and that we will continue to see ⁓ evil in the world around us. And we need to engage, we need to talk about how we can do better, but we have to recognize that the true source of this is We are a society that is not seeking answers in God. We are seeking answers in ourself, and that will only lead to more devastation. But we know that God is not finished with us, and that God can bring revival, and that God ultimately will make everything right. And I continue to lift up in prayer our state, our nation, and our world, and pray that people will turn to the one who created them. the one who gives mercy, the one who brings justice. We'll see you next