The Testimony of God
Book of Micah Chapters 1 and 2
The name Micah is a shortened form of Micaiah, which means "who is like Jehovah"?
What is a testimony?
A testimony is a statement made for the purpose of establishing or proving some fact.
A testimony is the declaration of a witness. How my life has changed since the Lord Jesus Christ came into my heart and stayed.
Thus, the whole Bible is a testimony of JEHOVAH’S sovereign will, and the Gospel is a special testimony of the riches of His grace in Christ Jesus to the church and people.
If we are not willing to testify of the truth of our Savior, then we do not have much of a testimony.
Psa 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
1Jn 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
1Jn 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
Micah begins his ministry by warning of the coming judgment of God when true justice will finally, conclusively, and completely be executed.
All the wicked and the unjust in this world will have to give an account for their behavior.
A day is coming when everyone will face the "judgment" of God.
*****Mic 1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
This prophecy will be against the Northern Tribes.
Micah presents Yahweh as the righteous Judge and the faithful Shepherd of Israel.
His message is that God hates sin, lawlessness, idolatry, and religious formality.
Religious formality refers to the strict adherence to outward rituals, rules, or procedures in religious practice, often at the expense of genuine spiritual engagement and heartfelt devotion.
What does God say? 2Ti_3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: “from such turn away”.
How are we to worship God? Jhn_4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Any other worship is in vain! Mat 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Micah was from a small town about twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem called Moresheth.
We should understand that in the coming judgment, God is not going to send an angel or anyone else; He is coming Himself!
*****Mic 1:2 Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
Mic 1:3 For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
Micah prophesied for the most part to the Northern Tribes, but immediately the Holy Spirit says, "Hear all ye people, O earth and all that is therein".
There is no part of the Bible that we should leave out of our studies!
All his life, Micah stayed true to the Word of God.
Micah not only preached the "judgment" of God, but he also preached the "Love" of God.
Judgment is certain for those who rebel against God, and just as certain is God's love for those who keep a personal relationship with Him.
We should also understand that there is no one we can compare to the Holy Trinity!
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Not three gods but the three persons of the Triune God.
Isa 46:8 Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
Samaria and Jerusalem would both face the harsh condemnation of God.
These were the capitals that represented the two kingdoms and everyone in them.
We should know that the fate of nations depends upon the people of that nation.
That national leader might not do right according to the Word of God, but we do not have to follow them. They will be judged harshly for how they had led their nation.
In fact, the fate of nations depends entirely on the fate of God's people.
The Bible testifies to the judgment that will take place if we transgress the covenants God has made with His people.
The destruction of the Northern and Southern tribes of Israel is a testimony to the nations of this world of how God hates sin.
God is the Eyewitness to these truths!
God does not need anyone to tell Him how evil the world has become!
We all should take notice that if God is that severe with His own people, who should be the Light of the world, how can they think that God has too much love to punish this world?
The punishment of the Jews did not begin to end until May 14, 1948, and God has not begun judgment on the Church as of yet, except to say it is ongoing, and then after this He will judge this world.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
Verse three tells us that the "Day of the Lord" has come and the LORD has appeared.
Those high places are everywhere where false worship takes place.
Up until this time, the Lord was out of view because just His glory would cause this world to burn and people to perish.
How can anyone think that God will not save His people, those who worship Him in Spirit and Truth, from His wrath?
The liberal church must have the same Bible I have, though many of them have removed much of the truth of God from it.
Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
It is the glory of God that will set this world on fire!
*****Mic 1:4 And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.
When the Lord Jesus steps onto this earth, the consequences become immediately noticeable. When He touches the mountains, they become like wax before the fire. His majesty is a consuming fire.
The valleys collect that waxy mire, and in the end the world becomes almost level except for Jerusalem.
Heb_12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Psa 68:1 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.
Psa 68:2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
Psa 68:3 But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.
Now we know that this does not happen till the end times and has not yet taken place.
The destruction that Micah is referring to is the imminent destruction of the Northern Ten Tribes by the Assyrian Empire led by Shamaneser, and then the invasion of the Southern Empire by the Babylonians led by Nebuchadnezzar about 125 years later.
The final fulfillment of all these things will take place when the Lord Jesus returns to claim this world as His own.
Psa 96:13 Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
Some of these things can be applied to us here today.
Those mountains of difficulties we face as Christians can melt like wax so that we can pass over them.
As Christians, we will spend our days on top of the mountain or down in the valleys; we will very seldom be completely settled, especially during these end times.
Isa 49:11 And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
*****Mic 1:5 For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?
Mic 1:6 Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.
Mic 1:7 And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.
What will the Lord Jesus destroy when He comes again to this earth?
1) He will destroy all the places that wicked men and women considered to be safe.
Rev_6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
2) He will destroy all (ALL) the militaries upon this earth that go against Israel.
Rev 14:20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
3) God will destroy all places of false worship.
No nation will be safe from the wrath of God.
Rev 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Why will God destroy this world we live in today? It's very simple.
The reason for God's actions is because of the transgression and the sins of His creation.
All those who have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ will be destroyed along with them because they are not God's people but are the children of Satan.
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Mat_7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
What about Israel? The seat of corruption lies in the capitals of these separated nations.
Governments have the power to remove evil wickedness from their nations, but in most nations, corruption begins with the government.
There is no doubt that Satan is in control of most nations’ capitals, if not all of them.
What are the facts? The Assyrians left only a heap when they destroyed Samaria.
The foundations of corruption were laid bare.
The only good side was the fact that the land could now be plowed to produce needed crops, which the world will need after Jesus Christ defeats this world of sin.
For the sinner, God will sometimes have to break down the walls that we have built ourselves just so He can reach the heart.
These things are mostly very painful. That Heavenly Hickory will become a Rod of Destruction.
God does not mind smashing idols to pieces, but the gifts and the treasuries of those places of worship will be plundered.
The Assyrians plundered the places of false worship and took the gold and silver and other valuables, and used them to make more of their own false gods.
This world just loves its many gods!
Spiritual harlotry is taking the things that belong to God and giving them to a false god.
These are the things of the heart: worship, praise, and faithfulness.
Idolatry is everything that takes our eye away from the Lord Jesus Christ as the center of our lives.
1Jn 5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
1Jn 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
1Jn 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
Micah mourns because this punishment extends to Judah also.
“Stripped and naked” describes the condition of the people that the King of Assyria took back to Nineveh with him.
Micah would do the same in Judah to show the people what the destruction of the people looked like.
Listen to Isaiah: Isa 20:2 At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
Isa 20:3 And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;
Isa 20:4 So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
The Hebrew word “tannin” is used where we get our English word dragons, but it can mean other animals or beasts.
The Hebrew word"tannin". It typically translates to "sea monster" or "dragon" and is associated with formidable creatures in biblical texts.
The term can often symbolize power and chaos, often representing evil or national oppression.
In some contexts, it is also linked to the concept of a leviathan, embodying death and disorder.
The “wailing like the dragons” is a metaphor for profound, animal-like grief — a cry so raw and desperate that it echoes the howls of wild beasts.
It emphasizes the severity of the coming judgment, Micah's own personal anguish, and the desolate state of the nation of Israel, the Northern Tribes.
It’s not just a description of sound; it’s a call to recognize the seriousness of sin and the weight of God’s wrath.
God said the wound of Israel, the Northern Tribes, was incurable because it had now passed to Judah.
We see that sin is contagious!
God set aside His "grace" from Israel, and only His wrath was left.
God would destroy the Northern Tribes using the hands of the Assyrians.
The same sins of the Northern Tribes led to the same sins of the Southern Tribes and would lead to the same fate.
We know that God used the hands of Babylon on the Southern Tribes.
God would not have put these things in the Bible if not for our own learning.
The citizens of the world are just as guilty today of idolatry, if not more so.
Our idols may not be the same, though some are, but to worship anything but the Living God and True God is still a shameful sin.
We cannot give ourselves to the false gods of this world and still call ourselves Christians or the children of God. We are called Christians because we are trying to be like Jesus Christ.
Idolatry in any form of false worship will doom us to Hell!
*****Mic 2:1 Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.
What does God mean here? They were not led to idolatry by others; it was the leaders who conceived these evil things in their own hearts.
Those who are lost spend a lot of time planning some sin and planning to sin.
All idols are just figments of people's imaginations!
The heart conceives this wickedness, and with their hands they make themselves a god, so their hands become their gods.
They no longer lifted their hands to God; they lifted their hands to themselves.
As my Pastor says, their hands were no longer Holy.
Today we would say, "Look what I can do".
Today, this woe is for all those in power, the people with money and influence, who are only interested in self-enrichment, stop at nothing to practise the evil they conceive when they are at rest, and the next day they start doing it.
We should understand that there is only one cause for the "judgment" of God, and it is sin!
Judgment is coming!
Judgment is inevitable!
Judgment is inescapable!
Why? Listen to what God says. Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
This does not mean just a few, “but all”, every living soul that has ever put their foot down upon this earth and those yet to be born.
This world is full of people who hate for other people to have what they do not have.
This is the beginning of what is called socialism.
*****Mic 2:2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
Just turn on the news, and you will see open violence and fraud that have been planned and put in place.
Isa 5:8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
We hear all the time about how generous the richest men are to charities, when the charities they donate to are immoral and sinful.
We do not hear how they buy up every piece of land in our nation until they own millions of acres, and we should ask ourselves why.
God knows why and pronounces this woe on them.
Covetousness is the sin of the world. Just look at the war in the Middle East that is taking place now.
Iran is planning, plotting, and telling the world that they own a body of water just because it touches their nation. If they get away with it, then every nation that joins the seas will try to do the same thing.
They keep this nonsense going on while in the background they are plotting for the destruction of all people they hate, making more war machines, and are determined to have a nuclear bomb.
There are a lot of things going on in this world, some of them good, not many, but covetousness, robbery, and oppression are the greatest crimes and are never brought to justice.
When the laws of God are violated, the rights of one's neighbors are violated.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
When sin occupies our hearts, then sin will come from our hands.
Whatever our area of weakness, God warns us against thinking evil thoughts and planning or plotting evil.
Mat 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
Mat 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Those guilty of this will one day face the wrath of God.
*****Mic 2:3 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.
God says we will reap what we sow.
Some people cannot get a good night's sleep because doing evil is always on their minds.
Those mentioned in verse one, those who devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds and then do that evil, have a special judgment coming from the Lord.
As they devise some new evil, God will devise a new penalty.
Who is this family that God is so against? It is Israel.
Amo 3:1 Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,
Amo 3:2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
When God mentions their necks, He is referring to a yoke put on the necks of animals that plow.
Hos 10:11 And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.
Hos 10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
This yoke is their conquest and their exile at the hands of foreign powers.
Jer 27:12 I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
God says it is this judgment that will remove the sinful pride from Israel, and it will be an evil time, full of calamity.
This yoke will be so heavy it will be a burden that will crush them.
Deu 32:35 To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
Deu 32:36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
Deu 32:37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
And the Lord continues:
*****Mic 2:6 Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.
Mic 2:7 O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
Mic 2:8 Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war.
Here is another place in the Bible that is being repeated in this day and time.
The people persecuted God's true prophets and placed their trust in the false prophets of the world.
What is happening? Another church closes its doors every week because people do not want to hear the truth.
The mega churches are still growing because these worldly prophets preach only half-truths and have messages that assure the people of security and prosperity, which God made no such promises here on earth.
The average church just wants to hear pleasant things, but I hate to inform them that, as loving as the Lord Jesus is, He is bringing a calamity when He returns, and it will not be pleasant.
Church is not about having fun; it is for preparing for the return of Jesus Christ! This is the job of the Church.
Isa 30:10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Isa 30:11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
What does God say to do if we hear such preaching?
Mic 2:10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.
A truth that we can understand is that all those who preach a deceiving gospel will be right beside the Devil in the hottest part of Hell, and they will have no remedy.
*****Mic 2:12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.
What God is saying about the judgment of Israel will hold to be true, but we must never think that God will allow the annihilation of all the people of Israel.
God will remove sin and corruption from this world, and those who do such things had better be aware of this and be warned.
God still has a plan of salvation and restoration that will survive and be put in place in the end.
Those who want to see a true miracle need to be aware that this whole earth will one day be like the Garden of Eden was in the first week of creation.
Praise the Lord, punishment is not the last Word from God!
Jer 31:10 Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.
Jer 31:11 For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.
Jer 31:12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
This is much greater than what has been happening since May 14, 1948.
Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
*****Mic 2:13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.
We know that there is a lot of preaching about the Antichrist and the end times, but we must keep one thing in mind.
It is the Lord Jesus Christ, the only One who can break us out of Satan's prison.
He is the Breaker!
The Lord Jesus will one day soon burst upon the scene of this world to first destroy sin and corruption and then remake this world.
The pains of bondage will be destroyed because He is also the Good Shepherd who will lead His own sheep out and bring them into freedom and care for them for eternity.
The Lord Jesus has already destroyed the bondage of sin and condemnation by dying in our place.
The Lord Jesus has already destroyed the prison of death and the grave at the cross.
The Lord Jesus has already made us acceptable to our Heavenly Father if we trust and follow Him in His ways.
The Lord will return to "deliver" us to His Father as His wife, the Bride of Christ.
It is called Redeemed!
Do we have the same faith as Job?
Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
Job 19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
Job 19:27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
These things are not very far from being completed with the Church and then Israel.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
The Lord Jesus Christ will be our Breaker, our King, and our Lord.
Amen
