Thru the Bible

Steve Schwartz: For those of us in Southern California, the slightest shift of the ground puts us on alert. The thought of the next earthquake, particularly the ever promised big one that experts still predict is never far from our minds. And you know, some people say that we need to be kind to mother nature or face the consequences, and others say it's just a matter of time. Welcome to Through the Bible. I'm Steve Schwartz, and I'm so glad that you're here as we continue our study in the prophetic and as our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee calls it the poetic book of Micah.

We begin in Micah chapter 1 at verse 2 where we're going to discover who's really in control of earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes. And I'm sure that you've already guessed this, but I'll give you a hint. It's not mother nature. But first, here's a quick introduction by Dr. McGee about the prophet Micah and the time in which he lived.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, Micah was a prophet with a message of judgment to Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, and to Samaria, the capital of Israel. The 10 northern tribes that rebelled under Jeroboam. His message was not confined to the local situation with a near fulfillment of judgment, but to all nations of the world with a message of hope and love. Micah answers the question of the wise men, for instance. The wise men who came from the east. And they came as representatives for the teeming millions of the east. And they were looking for a world where there would be a ruler who would bring peace and prosperity to the world.

And they came to worship such a king and such a ruler. And their question was the question that Micah had answered 700 years before they got there. And he had the answer for them. You find that question as given in the fifth chapter of the little book of Micah. And I'm turning to that and reading it. He says in verse 2, but thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

And when the wise man arrived, they made such an impression. Must have been 300 of them, and Herod called in the scribes and said they're looking for the king of the Jews. And where is it prophesied? And they said unto him in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it's written by the prophet. And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. And so, friends, Micah answers a question that's going to be answered 700 years later.

And that question is a question that when answered is a message for the world.

Steve Schwartz: We'll hear more about this from Dr. McGee next time. But now it's time to dive into Micah right after I share a quick letter from a listener in Iraq. My name is Nora. I live in a small community where traditions and faith are often intertwined. At first, I listened to Through the Bible out of curiosity, but over time I became more and more a casual listener. I'm now a devoted follower. Each episode speaks deeply to me, answering my spiritual questions and helping me navigate the challenges of daily life. What I love most is how the stories come alive.

I often reach out to the team asking questions and sharing my reflections on the episodes. One moment that truly impacted me was an episode about Jesus' love for the marginalized and overlooked. I had never thought of God's love in such a personal way before. I remember writing to the team saying it gives me hope that he sees me too. This is more than just a program. It's a source of guidance and encouragement, lighting my path as I explore my faith in new and profound ways. We praise God that his word is changing lives around the world and thank you to those of you who are on our world prayer team praying for these things to happen.

Well, if you feel like you're being called by God to join that important team of prayer warriors and partner with us, then we would ask you to actually go to ttb.org/pray and sign up today. And if you'd like to support us financially, we'd love that as well. Just call 1-800-65 Bible or visit us at ttb.org. Let's pray for God's word to be heard far and wide. Gracious heavenly Father, thank you for the teaching of your word and may it be heard loud and clear here at home and throughout the Middle East and North Africa and all over the world.

We would humbly ask that your spirit touches the hearts of lives of everyone who's listening. In Jesus' name, amen. We're off to Micah 2 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Our last time we opened up the introduction to this little prophecy of Micah, a very wonderful prophet, by the way. He is a many Isaiah his book is. And he was a younger man than Isaiah, but contemporary with him. And although he came from the southern kingdom, his prophecies are largely directed to the northern kingdom, especially these first ones. And we are going to see that today. Now, if you have your Bible and turn with us to the first chapter of Micah verse 2, and we are in this section where who is a God like unto thee in proclaiming future judgment for past sins?

Now, this little book has been, I think, misrepresented when it's said that it's just a book of judgment. That is absolutely inaccurate because there is more than judgment here. There is, as we saw last time, a tenderness and a sweetness in this book that reveals how wonderful our God is. He is the one who pardoneth iniquity. He is the one that can forgive. And his forgiveness is so different than our forgiveness. We forgive if we feel like it, and we forgive without any payment being made many times. But do you know that God never forgives until the payment has been made?

Never. You see, the reason he can forgive your sin and mine is because the penalty is already been paid. That's the basis of God's forgiveness. He just doesn't arbitrarily forgive. He's a holy God. And as a holy God, he forgives on the basis of his tenderness and his love and giving his son to die for us. And you just couldn't have more wonderful view of God than you have in this little book. Now, remember this is Old Testament. Remember this is what the critic says is a God of the Old Testament is brutal and cruel.

And the God of the Old Testament's not a God of mercy. And it's all judgment. Well, there's a lot of judgment here at first. And there's a lot of judgment, may I say, in the New Testament. In fact, more in the New Testament than the Old. Actually, the Old Testament doesn't develop the doctrine of hell. You got to get to the New Testament for that. And do you know who developed it? The Lord Jesus. The gentle Jesus did that. So, if you want to follow his teachings, Mr. Liberal, then you believe in hell. You'd have to.

That is unless you don't follow his teaching. Now, will you listen? I'm reading verse 2 chapter 1. Hear all ye people. And that means all the people. That means all of us. Hearken all earth. Now, since we're on the earth, most of us are all earth and all that is in it. And let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. Now, may I spend just a moment with this verse here? He is calling God to witness the thing that he's going to say. The Lord is in his holy temple.

The Lord is in his heaven today. Now, he says that the Lord is coming down in judgment. Will you listen to verse 3? For behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. Now, this language is absolutely beautiful, although it's frightful in many ways, that God is coming down now in judgment and he's going to tread upon the high places of the earth. Now, these high places Samaria was built on a mountain, so was Jerusalem. And here was the place where they put up idols, found idols in many places in that day.

And always upon a high place, upon a mountain top. That was the place for idolatry. Now, God is going to come down and he's going to tread upon the high places of the earth. The places where there was idolatry. And here's where the cities were built also. The Lord Jesus mentioned a city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid. And that city has a tremendous influence upon the area that is around. The influence of cities has always been great. And also, when it is the seat of government, it has a tremendous influence upon the area and sometimes actually upon the world.

That has been true of many great cities of the past and cities today. And they are also the center of great sin, by the way. And it's the reason that God is going to judge. Now, you'll notice he says here, and the mountains shall be melted under him, and the valleys shall be cleft like wax before the fire and like the waters that are poured down a steep place. Now, this definitely is a picture of earthquakes. And you'll find that running through the scripture. I don't want to take time for this, but you could find in many places in the scripture where this is a picture actually of earthquakes.

And I'm going to turn to only one reference, and it's in the book of Psalms. This figure of speech runs through the word of God, beginning with the fifth chapter of Judges verse 4, and it continues all the way through to Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 5. Isaiah uses the figure of speech and many of the Psalms. But I'm turning to Psalm 18 now and begin reading it verse 7. Now, listen to this language. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured.

Coals were kindled by it. He bowed down the heavens also. And came down and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub and did fly. Yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. Now, what we have here is a picture of an earthquake, volcano. And it raises the question today about nature, about whether nature's blind or as the advertisement is had it, you ought not to fool mother nature. Well, may I say to you mother nature just doesn't happen to exist at all except on a TV screen. It's God today that controls nature.

And earthquakes and volcanoes and all of the weather is controlled by God. And God uses earthquakes as judgment. I'm not sure but what Southern California of course we're defying God today in more ways than one. We're putting up these big tall buildings. When I came out here, I think a 13 story building was the limit. We've got them now up past 60 stories. And they're coming down one of these days. I believe that God judges and that he judges nations. He judges peoples. And these are warnings. I always felt that the dust storms that came during the depression.

The depression came and then there was the dust bowl. And out of that area literally thousands of people took flight. And America didn't listen to God then. The depression, I'm confident, was a judgment of God. The dust bowl was. Nobody heard him. Nobody listened to him. And then we entered World War II. And we haven't recovered from that yet. The thing is that God is still moving in the affairs of the world and God still judges and he comes down. And this is highly figurative, but it is a tremendous accurate, exact, and literal picture of what takes place.

Now, will you notice he says here why this is happening. Why volcanoes and all that sort of thing. When you go to Turkey today, especially along the coast there, the west coast. And you see all those great cities like Ephesus and like Pergamum that at one time were the very heart blood of the Roman Empire. Great cities. Why are they today lying in ruins? And why is it that there's no great population there actually in small towns are about the only thing that you have? Well, somebody says it's earthquake territory. You are right. And it's interesting that man always flocks the earthquake territory.

That's true here in California. We got them out here now by the million. We're ready for one, let me tell you. And that was true in the Roman Empire. The great population of the Roman Empire was in what is today modern Turkey. But what happened to them? And what happened to those cities? Well, the historian tells us today earthquakes destroyed those cities and caused the people to flee. Judgment of God, if you please. And God makes it very clear he judged the Roman Empire. Now, may I say to you God makes it clear here about his judgment.

Verse 5. For the transgression of Jacob is all this. And for the sins of the house of Israel. Now, you see he's speaking to both kingdoms and to the capitals. Samaria of Israel, Jerusalem, of Judah, of Jacob. Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? Now, Jerusalem was the place they were to worship God. But were they worshiping him there? Well, yes, they'd go to the temple, but they also were going to the high places where there were idols and were actually the worst form and gross form of immorality took place.

And this is the thing that God says that he's going to judge them for and judge these two great cities. Now, I think of this in connection with our own nation today because we saw last time that we have here a philosophy of government. Micah makes it clear that it's not the form of government that's wrong. Actually, a dictatorship is not wrong. What's wrong? It's the people that head it up. It's the one who is the dictator. And I do not know whether there's too much difference in having one godless dictator than having a whole Senate and representatives, all of them godless.

What difference does it make? And the reason that the founders of our nation put three departments of government. And the reason that they didn't have a king, that was what they were accustomed to and they debated that, you know. They wondered whether it wouldn't be wise, but they had had a bad experience with old George back in England, you know, and they were not about to have another king. So, they formed the three branches of government not because they were so smart, but because the the fact they couldn't trust man. They knew they couldn't trust man.

And therefore, they formed three branches of government so one could watch the other. And believe me today all three need watching. And why? Because you've got to have the right kind of man today in government for any government to function. And that was the problem in that day. Samaria and Jerusalem had become corrupt and God was judging. I don't know, but I'm of the opinion that we've gone over the hill. Now, for years I've been saying this and it's not new at all for me to say this. I've been preaching it for 25 years that the United States is not in prophecy and that in the end times that we've either disappeared or we're no longer a world power.

And friends, we're going down in a hurry today. A member of the State Department told me that now in conferences that are being conducted by the nations where America always took the lead. Some of them were not even invited to them. And when we are, we're not asked to take the lead. We had a marvelous opportunity after World War II to lead the world. And what did we give them? We gave them rock music. We gave them the new morality. And we gave them a love of pleasure and a love of affluence. And today America is on the way down.

And when I say that, I'm saying it not because I enjoy saying it, because I love my country and I hate to see what's happening to it and hate to see a godless outfit take over sin he washed it white as snow.

Steve Schwartz: Today's study with Dr. J. Vernon McGee is brought to you by Through the Bible. And it's made possible by the generous prayer and financial investments from listeners like you on the Bible bus all around the world.