Episode 4: A God who exacts justice (chapter 2)

Season 12: Micah

11 Oct

Micah continues to explore the corrupt world that he sees before him, and God’s response to it, but we also taste tantalising hope. Come along with us as we continue our Micah bible study.

1. As Micah describes the world in which he and the remnant live, what stands out to you?
2. How is God's justice outworked?
3. What particularly comforts you in v12-13
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Felicity: You're listening to the Two Sisters in a Cup of Tea podcast, the Bible Study podcast for everyday life. We're here for a 20 -minute burst of Bible chat over a cup of tea and an English -style biscuit as we make our way through a Bible book over the course of the season and drive it to our hearts. And this season, we're in Micah. Whether you've been listening for a while or have just found us, we're so pleased you're here.
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Welcome to Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea. My name is Sarah, I live in the UK and this is my sister Felicity. She lives in the States but is currently here in the UK for longer than what you originally anticipated due to visa situations. But we're here in the same room together. We're about to get into Micah Chapter 2. I'm looking forward to it. But before we get there, Felicity, have you noticed an uptake in your tea consumption? You've been here three months now. What's on your mind?
Felicity: I know, I have actually been wondering the same thing. Have I drunk a lot more tea since I've been in England? So it's three months. I've been wondering, I think I have because there is an instinctive English thing, isn't there? Where you walk into people's houses and they put the kettle on and I am visiting a number of people as I've been in the UK. I do also think that people know that I am part of Two Sisters and a cup of tea and so they definitely, the expectation is high. Sometimes I'm not sure I want a cup of tea but I have said yes every time. I feel like it's just a good thing to do, isn't it? Any biscuits in the vicinity?
Sarah: I haven't got a biscuit right now but I feel like I'm still on the sugar overload from my daughter's millionaire shortbread that she made yesterday. So she's into that baking zone where she wants to bake everything junior bake -off inspired and it was just really sweet. Crazy sweet and I'm still living off that so that'll be through today.
Felicity: A little hesitation to have a biscuit in addition is that the...?
Sarah: Yeah. Not quite yet ready.
Felicity: Yeah, maybe we can find the one. We need to share a biscuit in person soon. So Micah 2, let me read that for us. As we've been in Micah, we've been dealing with judgment. We've only done one chapter and it's very evident that judgment and God's justice is going to be a thing throughout this book. That is a hard thing to read and to sit with. How, I appreciate this is not your everyday cup of tea kind of chat, but what do we do with the reality of judgment? Can you help us with that, Sarah? What does it look like to really deal with it?
Sarah: Yeah, very big question.
Felicity: Yep, I'm going big.
Sarah: I think here, I think we were just reflecting, weren't we, on chapter one and just thinking through actually and reminding ourselves of the reality that God is the creator of the heavens and the earth. He is the one worthy and so when people are forsaking him for something lesser than him, something that he's created, then he's jealous for his name because he is the only one worthy of worship. And so he is then right to judge in that and I think that's been helpful for me just keeping that big picture in view of why it's right that he is judging for sin for idolatry, but actually he is worthy of worship so the jealousy that he rightly has for his name and his glory is tied up.
Felicity: Yeah and we're made to worship him so it's actually a righting of kind of how it should be isn't it that we worship him and him alone.
Sarah: It doesn't make it easy and it doesn't make it easy to swallow and we sit here knowing the hardship of this kind of message, but also we're getting into a chapter today where people didn't want to preach judgment and that's not okay either. We need to sit with the whole counsel of God and in Micah that includes sitting under this and trying to understand the why behind it.
Felicity: Yeah, really helpful. One to mull on, if you're reading Micah with someone else at this point, this is the sort of thing to be talking about, isn't it? Because we're all feeling it, so let's be talking about it and wrestling it through together as we put that to one side for the moment. Let's get into chapter two. I'm going to read it for us. So we're in Micah chapter two.
Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds. At morning's light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. They covet fields and seize them and houses and take them. They defraud people of their homes. They rob them of their inheritance. Therefore the Lord says, I am planning disaster against this people from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly for it will be a time of calamity. In that day people will ridicule you. They will taunt you with this mournful song. We are utterly ruined. My people's possession is divided up. He takes it from me. He assigns our fields to traitors. Therefore you will have no one in the assembly of the Lord to divide the land by lot. Do not prophesy, their prophets say. Do not prophesy about these things. Disgrace will not overtake us. You descendants of Jacob, should it be said, does the Lord become impatient? Does he do such things? Do not my words do good to the one whose ways are upright? Lately my people have risen up like an enemy. You strip off the rich road from those who pass by without a care, like men returning from battle. You drive the women of my people from their pleasant homes. You take away my blessing from their children forever. Get up. Go away for this is not your resting place because it is defiled, it is ruined beyond all remedy. If a liar and deceiver comes and says, I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer, that would be just the prophet for this people! I will surely gather all of you Jacob. I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep and a sheepfold, like a flock in its pasture. The place will throng with people. The one who breaks open the way will go up before them. They will break through the gate and go out. Their king will pass through before them, the Lord at their head.
Sarah: Thank you, Felicity. Well, it seems like we've kind of gone from big picture in chapter one with melting mountains and the kind of camera zooms in now on a group of people in view and it's very specific actually in verses one and two, isn't it, as to who he's describing. Those who plan iniquity, who plot evil on their beds, they covet fields, they defraud, they rob. It's a kind of horrendous picture.
Felicity: It's really ugly, really ugly isn't it? Yeah absolutely and as you say quite specific so these are very, you can imagine what these people are, we've got them in view and the idea that they could covet and take, they could defraud, that suggests that they are people in power. They have power but they are corrupt with that power.
Sarah: But I love how quickly they're described and then how quickly it says, therefore, the Lord will exact his justice won’t he, he will not leave it unpunished. And I love that the way it talks about the plotting and planning in verses one and two, and then it's of exacting justice where it says, I am planning disaster against this people. And you cannot save yourselves in that. And so I just, think that's just really powerful to see the kind of side by side nature of these people are planning and plotting this on their beds, but do you know that the Lord is planning disaster for them? There's a kind of mirroring there, isn't there?
Felicity: Yeah, there's an exactness to it. And we've seen it before and we're going to see it again. there's something just very pleasing in that, isn’t there? Because I think for the people who are hearing Micah originally, they're most likely the people who are being robbed and defrauded. And so to then know that there is this kind of exact justice, like they've been doing that. And do you know what? God is going to turn the tables and do it to them in a just and a right way that is.
Sarah: yeah, it's it's a wonderful insight into his character, isn't it? So we continue to have this question in our minds, Micah's name, who is a god like you? This is a God who exacts justice. This is a God who sees, he sees the kind of depravity, he sees the evil and he will call them to account. And that is a comfort.
Felicity: Yes, that is. And that's it, isn't it? And we rarely have judgment and comfort in the same sentence, I think. But actually, if you are someone who is being abused, marginalized, persecuted, you want justice. And the idea that justice is coming is a comfort, is an assurance. And that's just a really good thing, isn't it? Which then, as we get into these next few verses, verses six and seven, you get these prophets who are not to say this. These prophets that we see here don't prophesy about these things. Keep it quiet. Don't talk about God's justice assuming that this is not what people want to hear, need to hear, like muzzling the mouth of the Lord in this really.
Sarah: Yeah, yeah, which again really shows their lack of understanding of God's character doesn't it? The need for justice, the need for judgment actually because it's uncomfortable these false prophets are kind saying don’t go there, don’t upset the status quo and actually no, no like the reality is in verse 8 my people have risen up like an enemy like he's describing his people like an enemy that's how bad things have got, how blase people have got about sin and oppression that people are under, under this leadership.
Felicity: And it is the exact opposite of what God is like, isn't it? So if you look at the second half of verse eight there, you strip off the rich row from those who pass by without a care, but God cares. If we were to read Deuteronomy Leviticus,the law is very evident, God's heart is for the widows, the orphans, the marginalised. And these people that are described here are not in line with God's character. They are not reflecting the character of the God who they claim to worship, they claim to walk with. And so it is outrageous behaviour actually, isn't it?
Sarah: Yeah, to the extent that in verse nine, you take away my blessing from their children forever. And that is a loaded phrase take away my blessing, the blessing that was promised in Genesis chapter 12 to Abraham for all the nations through God's people and the accusation that actually these prophets and these leaders are taking that away. People aren't even able to enjoy the blessing of being part of God's people because they're stripped of every good thing under this.
Felicity: It's horrifying actually, isn't it? Because that eternal well -being is being taken away. Yeah, hugely disturbing. And so it's kind of right, verse 11, again, it's an exact justice here. If a liar or deceiver comes and says, I will prophesy for you plenty of one, that would be just the prophet for this people. It's like that's the only prophet that you deserve. If this is the way you're going to conduct yourselves, the only profit you deserve is one that speaks of the here and now and actually talks of here's the gift of wine and beer. We know that is not of eternal benefit and so there's again an exactness to what is being said there in relation to what has just been described.
Sarah: But then you have this wonderful comfort that then kind of comes in the last couple of verses doesn't it? So we talked before about the pattern of this prophecy that you get judgment and then mercy and we've had the comfort of this judgment actually I think that is right to feel the comfort of judgment that we then got this extraordinary wonderful comfort where God says I will surely gather all of you Jacob I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel I will bring them together like sheep in a sheepfold like a flock in its pasture and that language, that kind of, just the I wills, the surelies, it's just a wonderful kind of sweet tonic, isn't it, at the end of this chapter?
Felicity: I think especially given the power that we have seen in the picture language of the last, you know, since the beginning of the book, this same God who is able to, you know, make mountains into rubble, this God is powerful enough that when he says I will, we know, we're convinced that this God is powerful, that he is able to do it. And I love that he wants to do it. This is the posture of the Lord, isn't it? I will bring them together like sheep and a sheep that are flocking in its pasture. This is not the first time we've had shepherding language. That's been there all the way through the Bible, really, think, Ezekiel and other places like that. But here then, as well, it points us forwards to the character of God we see in Jesus as well. We know God is like this. Jesus declares himself to be the good shepherd, and here we have the shepherd in action, God himself in action, it's such a tender picture.
Sarah: It is isn't it, but tenderness then coupled with the one who breaks open the way will go up before them. Jesus says he is the way and he breaks open the way. He breaks through the gate and he goes out. The Lord will pass before them, at their head, that kind of image of actually just the triumph, the victory achieved in Jesus on that cross enables these sheep to be gathered. Like the cross is the means by which this is happening, isn't it?
Felicity: And it's fitting that that level of force and power and triumph, that is right, isn't given the scene that we've just, that's just been described, that these people in power, these leaders who are defrauding and robbing and all the things, they need to be, it's kind of boshed, isn't it? This is like, there's no, you can't go against this shepherd, this king, this Lord. I think it's just very reassuring. If you think back to this remnant who are no doubt scared and persecuted, this is exactly the leader, a tender, powerful leader, which is in stark contrast to the leaders that they've been encountering up until this point.
Sarah: Yeah, it's beautiful isn't it? It's beautiful. How has this particularly been hitting your heart this week, Felicity?
Felicity: I think it's been, it's quite unnerving actually to read this description and recognise it. Our world is not that dissimilar to this. If you just pick up a newspaper you've got very similar things being described and in that then, with my kind of outrage, with my just, I'm just so angry at the way in which the world is. This is actually a comfort to me that God is just and that this will be dealt with. That's been, and recognising that that's how the remnant have been feeling, would have been feeling, actually just dwelling on that just a little bit has, I felt able to sit with the remnant in that and to appreciate God's justice more, I think, yeah. What about you?
Sarah: Yeah, think that's, yeah, I think I've been struck by the comfort of God's justice and the hope that that gives us when it can feel very hopeless in our world can’t it? But I think it is, and I think that probably is the primary way this should be hitting our hearts, but we can't escape the fact that our hearts are included in this and actually I come back to those first couple of verses the planning the plotting the coveting that is all that is all unseen isn't it yeah that is invisible to others but it's the heart behind it and actually my heart is not exempt from the yeah my sin in me is not exempt from the need to be judged and so it takes me to the cross. It does take me to Jesus because I need to remember that I am no different. I can't sit in a kind of, oh I'm fine in this, like I'm really not. But actually that helps me to run to the cross quicker.
Felicity: Yes, and that's a great reminder to take it there. Yeah, really challenging, comforting.
Sarah: Yeah, so there's comfort in different ways. There's a comfort in the justice of God that will be exacted in this world and things won't go unpunished. And there's a comfort that essentially and ultimately justice has been taken on the cross. Judgment has been taken on the cross. And so I can sit here safely and I can ask the Lord to help expose my sin, which is what I've been doing more and more this week. Lord, help me to see my sin. Help me to see my thoughts where they're not honouring to you because I'm safe to do that because of the comfort of being that union in Christ gives me the safety to do that well without fear, without dread.
Felicity: Really helpful and a heart level thing that isn't it? So we need the Lord's help to not I think my temptation would be to just see my sin and just be a bit crippled by that and but for the Lord to help us see our sin but also help us see Jesus.
Sarah: Yeah and see him like this. A God who draws near, we’re described as sheep. He breaks open the way for us and just that reality that, okay, we don't need to do anything but to come to the cross in faith that he's done it for us. It's good news, it?
Felicity: It's good news. Really good news. Do you want to pray that we would embrace all of that?
Sarah: Heavenly Father, we do just thank you so much for revealing more of your character in this part of Micah. We thank you that there is no God like you, the one who exacts justice and the one who is truly the shepherd king that we all need. Thank you that we get to run to Jesus in safety, knowing that we take refuge in the cross. Lord, please help us to want to do that more and more, to see our sin and to see the sin of our world and to know that we have a righteous judge on the throne. Lord, help us to keep growing in our view of you, we pray. Amen.
Felicity: Amen. Thank you Sarah. Well, Micah's flying by. Do make sure that you are subscribed to the podcast. We drop into your, we drop an episode every Friday, but just so you don't have to keep remembering whether it's Friday or not, why don't you subscribe, double check that you are subscribed so you don't miss what's going on as we're getting into Micah 3 next week. We will see you then. Goodbye.
Sarah: Goodbye.
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