Thru the Bible

Steve Shwetz: Have you ever been outside when dark clouds are forming and they look so ominous and even evil? Then all of a sudden the clouds open up and this beam of sunlight breaks through. I love that when it happens. And that's what it feels like when the Old Testament prophet Micah delivered God's word to Israel. Welcome to Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee as he continues to lead our study in the small but heavy book of Micah. We're in chapter 2 starting at verse 12. So if you recall from our last study, Micah is delivering a strong message of judgment.

But there at the end of chapter 2 he speaks of God in a beautiful little prophecy that shines just like a ray of sunshine through dark clouds. Dr. McGee tells us that God doesn't shy away from pointing out sin, but he also isn't shy about showing mercy. Not because of our worthiness, but because of his own grace. So as you can probably tell, this is a great study. So while you grab your Bible and your seat on the Bible bus, Greg is here and we want to tell you a bit more about the mercy and grace that God is pouring out onto our fellow listeners all around the world.

Greg Harris: And that's our business. We are flinging seed. We're sharing the love of God. We're sharing Jesus Christ in some of the most unlikely places uh that you can think of. And I I doubt the word Kazakhstan has rolled off the lips of many of our listeners. Maybe it has. Tell us if it has. But earlier this month you and I talked about an exciting article in this month's newsletter.

Steve Shwetz: Yeah. Yeah, Dave Dunmore uh one of our folks, our team members here, uh had the opportunity to go into Central Asia and into the country of Kazakhstan along with James Rosa.

Greg Harris: Yeah. Yeah. And that newsletter article tells stories. It has a few pictures that we have to limit pictures in that part of the world because we can't show people's faces. But some really powerful stories that uh we hope you'll be interested in in getting. And if you're not on our newsletter mailing list, you can get it electronically and get it at your home. And it it is a beautiful piece. You were mentioning what you do with the physical one you get at home.

Steve Shwetz: Yeah. Yeah, I love to get it and uh I I don't use the envelope to send in a donation because I I just do I set it up as a bill pay. That's an aside. But

Greg Harris: Me too. Me too. Yeah, that's me too.

Steve Shwetz: But then I do take I love the physical still because I take that that newsletter and I put it in my Bible. Then I carry it with me typically throughout the month and I'll refer to it as part of my devotional time. It helps me to remind me to pray for the many ministries that Through the Bible. So if you haven't yet seen that newsletter, I'd suggest you go today. Call 1-800-65 Bible. Sign up. It's super easy and it'll be a real resource for you.

Greg Harris: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and by the way, I do the same thing, Steve, cuz I try to model whatever I see you doing in your life, you know.

Steve Shwetz: Good, Greg. I'm I'm I'm glad you're continuing with that. Back to our stuff here. We're in Kazakhstan. So here's a letter from a Kazakh listener. I live in a Kazakh village. It has been a year since I came to God. Listening to the word of God through your teaching brings tears to my eyes because it touched my heart. Even if I do not understand many things, I'm grateful to God and thankful to those who made the program. I did not know Jesus before, but now I have gotten to know him better and he has opened my eyes to many things.

Hallelujah. Thank you very much. Jesus came to my house through you. About a thousand families live in this village and I am the only one who believes in Jesus. God chose me. May the name of God be praised.

Greg Harris: Wow. And if that letter has touched your heart like it's touched our hearts, I just want to encourage you again. You can get our newsletter. You can actually get it right now if you go online, you can download an electronic copy at ttb.org or as always just give us a call at 1-800-65 Bible.

Steve Shwetz: Yeah. Yeah. Greg, can you go ahead and pray for our study today and for the Kazakh listeners?

Greg Harris: I would love to. Heavenly Father, we do lift up the people of Kazakhstan who have so many obstacles to uh finding the truth of the gospel. Thank you that we are one of many ministries trying to bring your word and the truth of the gospel into that hard place. Thank you also for the encouragement we've gotten from the listeners to through the Bible in this part of the world. And we pray now, Lord, as we open our Bibles and open our hearts that you would teach us and transform us in Jesus' name. Amen.

Steve Shwetz: Now let's open to Micah chapter 2 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now friends, we've come to the last part of the second chapter of Micah. And the two chapters that we've had now have been very strong in their denunciation, especially of the northern kingdom of Israel. Although Jerusalem is included, it is to the northern kingdom that he's speaking directly. And the judgment is severe. The judgment actually is very harsh. Then you would not think when you come to the end of chapter 2 that you would find this very beautiful little prophecy of the future that shines here like a ray of sunshine that breaks through the dark clouds on a stormy day.

Listen now as I read verse 12 of chapter 2. He says, I will surely assemble, oh Jacob, all of thee. And you notice when God speaks of them actually as sinners, he's using the term oh Jacob. And that is uh term that means if he's going to do this, he's not going to do it because of their worthiness or because of some character trait or something that they have. But it simply means that God is going to do it by his grace. Now this is something that refers to the future. It could never have been fulfilled in the Babylonian captivity and it has not been fulfilled in their recent return to the land.

Couldn't be. I will surely assemble, oh Jacob, all of thee. And there are more of the nation Israel in New York City than there is in the whole land of Israel. And there's a great company of them still in Russia today. So God is not really assembled them yet according to prophecy. And he says, then I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. Now he's using both names, Jacob and now Israel. Now he speaking of a remnant. Now that is the remnant and he's always had that remnant out of the nation and he's never had anything but the remnant.

There never has been a time when it could be said that they had turned to God 100% And it was always for the sake of the remnant that God was gracious to them. And in the day that is coming in the future, even in the great tribulation period, when we read all Israel shall be saved, who are we talking about? Well, we're talking about all of Israel that belong to that company of 144,000. They are all going to make it through. Book of Revelation makes it clear that they were sealed and that I think means sealed by the Holy Spirit of God and that they are going to be able to make it through the great tribulation period.

But they are only a remnant. After all, there are probably 3 million of those people today that are in that land and there are probably 12 million out of the land so that 144,000 is a remnant and that's all that it could be considered. Now God says, I will put them together like the sheep of Bozrah. A Bozrah was a place of many flocks of sheep and the reason was the grass was especially green and tender there. And God says, I'm going to put them together like the sheep of Bozrah. In other words, the 23rd Psalm will be fulfilled.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He leadeth me beside the still waters. And this is the thing that he's talking about here by the way. Now he says, I'll put them together like the sheep of Bozrah, like the flock in the midst of their fold. They shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of man because of the fact that there is a great number returned to the land. When God returns the nation to the land, that doesn't mean all of them are going to be saved by any means. But it's going to be a tremendous thing.

Now if what has happened in our day has caused so many of the prophetic teachers to become very much in exaltation and in rejoicing that they're seeing prophecy fulfilled, which I don't think we're seeing. But I do believe that if what we've seen is an occasion for rejoicing, what will it be when God really returns the nation to the land? Now in verse 13 it says the breaker is come up before them. They have broken up and have passed through the gate and are gone out of it and their king shall pass before them and the Lord at the head of them.

Now that will be the time when I think they enter the millennial kingdom is when the Lord will be the one to lead them. He will then have returned to the earth. And of course, I don't think anyone is quite gone far enough to say that he has returned. He hasn't yet. And believe me, the world will know it when he does return to this earth. Now that brings us to the third chapter. And in the third chapter we have a division that we have made here and you'll find it in our notes. The first four verses, you have the sins of the princes.

Now the theme of this chapter is that in this third message he denounces the leaders of the nation for their sins. And we find that first of all, it's the sin of the princes in the first four verses. And we'll see that now in just a moment. But verses 5 to 8 we see the sins of the prophets. They are the spiritual leaders. And then in verses 9 through 12 we see the sins of all the leaders of Jerusalem. That includes the princes and the prophets, but also the priests. And now we see the injustice of the rulers there in that last section, verses 9 through 12.

Now we'll begin here with the first group in the first four verses. And as we said at the beginning, the way that you can tell these major divisions of the book, he always gives this exclamation of here. It's a call to here. Here, all ye people. Back in verse 2 of chapter 1. Now in chapter 3 and I said here, I pray you, oh heads of Jacob. And now he's speaking to the leadership of the nation. And ye princes of the house of Israel. They is specifically now at first is to the princes, the political rulers.

Then the religious rulers. And then he bundles them all together and even puts the priests with that last group. But he says, and ye princes of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know justice? Now what does he mean by that? Well, he means simply this. These people have been in the position of judging themselves. The princes sat in judgment over the nation. The people that were found guilty of a crime were brought before the prince for judgment. And now they ought to know what justice is. They ought to know what judgment is.

And this is something that you find again in the second chapter of Romans. You remember the Lord Jesus through Paul said this, verse 1 of chapter 2 of Romans. Therefore thou art inexcusable, oh man, whosoever thou art that judges or wherein thou judges another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judges doeth the same things. And he doesn't mean identical things, but similar things. And that is if you sit in judgment on others, then may I say you will be known as a harsh critic and a harsh judge. And then you in turn will be judged for that, you see.

You've done the same thing. You can look at the other fellow and criticize him. It's easy to do that, you know. It's amazing how we can see the faults in others that we can't see in ourselves. When Nathan came in and told David about a man in his kingdom that had a great many sheep and he went over and took the one little ewe lamb that his neighbor had. The poor fellow only had one and he took that and slew the little lamb. Well, that was injustice and David is the king. David stood up and I think he's a red-headed fellow.

Man, he was hot. This thing in somebody else he could see but he has done the same thing. And Nathan says, you're the man. You did this. And David accepted the judgment and confessed his guilt before God. Now that is the reason God says to these leaders in Israel, you've been in the place of judgment. You've judged others. And yet you have done the same thing. And my feeling is that the reason so many judges in our land today have been so lenient with criminals and have not wanted the death penalty that it's actually a bad conscience that's bothering them.

I have a notion that many a time when a judge sits on the bench and a man's brought before him accused of a certain crime, that that judge gives a light sentence because it more or less saves his own conscience. And that again, may I say, is a reason there should always be men of character in places of leadership. And I must repeat this. It's not the form of government that is important. If you've got a good king, it's wonderful. There's nothing wrong with that. It's the character of the leadership that is all important for a nation.

Now their character will determine the way they'll judge. And I think that we've had a very enlightening view of the leadership of our nation today, especially judges in giving light sentences. It 's nothing in the world but a guilt complex that's causing them to give that sort of thing today. Why? Because we need men of character in that position. And God says he's going to judge them. Very frankly, I think it's almost a joke when you have a group of congressmen investigating something in politics and probably everyone sitting there judging the other fellow. They've got a skeleton in their own closet.

And we've had reason to believe that in the past few months and years have we not? In my entire lifetime I've never felt that there were men that were in places of leadership that were fit to sit in judgment on other men. It takes men of character to do that sort of thing, you see. Now that's exactly what God is saying to them. Is it not for you to know justice? You're not doing this in ignorance. You've had experience in this. You've had men brought to you guilty. Now you are guilty. That's what God is saying.

Who hate the good and you love the evil. It's very hard for a judge who was at a cocktail party the night before and he got a little tipsy himself to sentence the man brought before him the next day who has killed somebody because he was a drunken driver. No wonder he lets him off easy. A man who drinks and is a judge in my judgment is not fit to sit in judgment on alcoholics that are brought before him that have killed somebody. Now I know what I'm talking about, friends, because my mother was killed by a drunken driver right here in Pasadena.

And I want to tell you I would not press charges. I didn't feel I should press charges. But I totally court when I was called in as a witness. I said to the court, I feel like justice should be done. I'm not asking you to take vengeance on the man. That's all I would do if I did that. All I ask is that justice be done. And believe me, he got off light for a very light sentence. And I always had a feeling as I looked at that judge that he had pretty bad conscience, by the way.

May I say to you, the leadership, they actually hated the good and they loved the evil. Now folk like that are not fit to be in positions of leadership today. A man that is a congressman or in any position of government, a senator or a judge or any other high position in government. If it's discovered that that man is unfaithful to his wife, is that man or that group of men, are they fit to make laws relative to marriage? I don't think so. I don't think they're in a position to No wonder we have the breakdown of morality.

It goes to the leadership and God puts the blame on the leadership here of the nation Israel. And this, as we said at the beginning, God is presenting in Micah a philosophy of human government. And basically you have to have men of character. And he says here, you hate the good, love the evil. And then he uses a vivid illustration here who pluck off their skin from them and their flesh from their bones. In other words, you're a cannibal when you sit in judgment on others. And when you love the evil and you hate the good, who also, verse 3, listen to him.

He's talking about human cannibals who hate the good, love the evil, pluck off their skin from them and their flesh from their bones, who also eat the flesh of my people and flay their skin from them and they break their bones and chop them in pieces. As for the pot and like flesh within the cauldron. In other words, no feeling enters into the judgment at all. No high principle, no character that enters into it. May I say to you that a godless man is the last person that I want to sit in judgment on me on anything.

And very frankly, I'm thankful that I don't have to stand before you in judgment, even if you're a Christian today. And you ought to be delighted that you're not going to have to stand before men in judgment. I'm of the opinion that I'm going to come off better in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ than I'm going to come off in the presence of mankind. And so I appeal my case. My case has already been appealed to him. And I'm not before you today for judgment. And you are not before me today in judgment.

And how wonderful that is, by the way, to know that. Now he says verse 4, then shall they cry unto the Lord. But he'll not hear them. Who is he talking about? About these leaders. Now as long as they are in a high position and they have no regard for the human side. There's no real sympathy, no real love. And they're in trouble because a power greater than they are has come down upon them. Then shall they cry unto the Lord. But he'll not hear them. God says, I'll let the judgment come upon you. He will even hide his face from them at that time as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

God says, now they're going to cry to me. And isn't that interesting? We all cry out to God in time of real trouble. I've been rather amused and ought not to be, but I can't help but be amused when I hear today the trouble that has come to us. And every now and then somebody says, may God help us. Well, finally God got in the door. I thought they'd bowed him out of his universe. He hasn't been mentioned much except in profanity. But now I find people are saying today, may God help us. Well, my friend, I don't know whether he's going to hear you or not because he said to these people who had ignored him and had been godless and had turned their back upon God and had lived godless lives, yet they were sitting in judgment on other people.

And they had ground down the people because they're not capable. I don't care whether they're graduating from Harvard Law School. That doesn't mean anything. In fact, that could make the worst kind of a judge or the worst kind of a person to sit into a high position because he'd be clever, but he'd still love evil. Therefore today, my friend, we need men and women who have a heart, who have more than just cleverness with the law. We need men and women today who I think know God because when trouble comes, God has certainly not promised to hear them.

And he told his people then, when you cry unto me, he'll not hear them. He'll even hide his face from them at that time as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings. God says, I'm going to hide my face from you. And believe me, it looks like he's not doing very much about the situation in the world today. We are in the period of the silence of God. But his grace is still abundant. He's rich in mercy, rich in grace to those who will bow before him and come and accept his son as savior.

Now until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Shwetz: I pray you experienced God's grace and mercy as we studied his word together. If you want to reach through the Bible, you can get our app or you can go to ttb.org or just call us at 1-800-65 Bible. And I'll meet you on the Bible bus next time.

Greg Harris: Through the Bible exists to take God's whole word to the whole world. And we invite you to stand with us with your faithful prayer and financial support. Where will God's word go today?