Micah 4:1

This and the following chapter are the citadel of Old Testament prophecy. Here Satan is vanquished; the light of truth is lighted for millenniums of time; the bold and undeniable prophecies of the coming of the Son of God, the establishment of his kingdom, the glorious success of it, and the ultimate fate of the wicked are graphically foretold in such a manner as to frustrate, discredit, and confound every effort of the evil one to get rid of the message. It lives forever. In this chapter, the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ and the going forth of the word of the Lord from Jerusalem are graphically predicted and described. The further judgment of the secular Israel for their idolatry was exactly predicted and foretold, even Babylon being named as the place of their banishment a full century, and more, before the event. If one really wishes to experience the deepening and strengthening of his faith, then let him understand this chapter and other portions of Micah.

SATAN'S ATTACK UPON MICAH

Satan is perfectly willing to allow practically all of Micah to stand as the unquestionable Word of God through that prophet; but the fearless predictions of this chapter have aroused the evil one to his fiercest activity. He must oppose what is written here. He has no choice. No matter if there are no arguments against it, he will make arguments anyway. When all else fails, he simply screams "it is not so!" Those who are familiar with the efforts of Satan to discredit the Bible could easily reproduce the arrogant carpings of Old Testament enemies without ever reading their books. Not one new argument in a thousand years has come out of their schools. Their knee-jerk response is as predictable as grass turning green in summer.

Satan's first maneuver is to declare that none of the "in" people accept this chapter. "According to the best scholarly opinion, Micah 4-5 contain no material by the prophet Micah."[1] The assertion of this is that none of it is true prophecy; all of it was inserted by an imposter long after Micah lived. Note the false claim that "the best scholarship" accepts such denials. What Christian has not heard that before? The same author declared concerning our Lord Jesus Christ that, "None of the rulers or Pharisees believed on him" (John 7:48). To be sure, the Pharisees also considered themselves and those who agreed with them as "the best scholars," no doubt believing that they were the "in" people. As a matter of fact, they were the "outs" and were the most profoundly blind and deceived scholars that the world had ever known up to that time.

"Since Micah was a prophet of doom," none of this happy material in Micah 4 could have come from him![2] This hoary-headed and decrepit objection has been discredited and disproved so often that it is astounding any of the "best scholars" would dare to make it; but as noted above, those who deny this passage are pressed beyond limits. As a matter of simple truth, all of the prophets, including most conspicuously the Christ himself, that Prophet like unto Moses, brought messages both of doom and of glory. Who has not heard of heaven and hell?

Another proposition is that, "The consensus of scholarship is that these chapters, Micah 4-5, are post-exilic."[3] Such views intimidate some people; but it should be recalled that the same "consensus" was teaching that the world is flat not very long ago in the historical past, or that "matter can neither be created nor destroyed" as recently as 1930. The same "consensus" dated the gospel of John in the mid-second century A.D., until the Rylands fragment exploded their denial of apostolic status to that gospel. We are thankful indeed that many of the greatest scholars of a thousand years, yes, the majority of them, do not hesitate to receive this glorious chapter for exactly what it is, the prophecy of Micah. We shall cite the opinions of a number of these in the notes below.

Are there any reasons, really, why these chapters should not be accepted as bona fide? No! Not one tiniest jot or tittle of solid evidence may be cited. If one is willing to accept as "evidence" the speculative imaginations of Bible enemies, then the theoretical guesses and suppositions of such enemies could be pointed out as evidence; but there's no wisdom in any such acceptance. The imaginations of men are, by definition, wicked. The unity and integrity of Micah are unquestionable and absolutely incapable of being disproved. The mere reading of it by a discerning scholar is sufficient to dispel the insinuations which are cast against it by people who do not believe in the inspiration of God's Word, nor even in the supernatural, nor in any such thing as predictive prophecy, nor in any revelation of holy religion from the Father in heaven, only believing in themselves and their vain imaginations. How sad it is that the pitiful inclination of sinful, fallible men is to believe it when Satan arrogantly contradicts the Word of God, saying, "Ye shall NOT surely die."

Micah 4:1

"But in the latter days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow unto it."

"In the latter days ..." has the meaning of, "in the times of the Messiah." "It always denotes the Messianic era when used by the prophets."[4] The literal translation of these words would be "`At the end of the days.' an expression used by the prophets to refer to the last days, or to the times of the Messiah."[5] The apostle Peter declared on the day of Pentecost that the expression refers to this present dispensation (Acts 2:16). Of course, this requires the interpretation of this passage as a description of the glory and success of the kingdom of Christ. The whole passage "points to the end of the Jewish age and the introduction of a new era under the spiritual ruler."[6]

"Mountain of Jehovah's house ... exalted above the hills ..." It is not a geographical upheaval that was predicted here, but that, "The worship of the true God (of which the temple mountain was a symbol) shall be promulgated among all nations."[7]

"Peoples shall flow unto it ..." "The word flow here is from the same root as river."[8] The people will flow as a mighty river into the kingdom (church) of Jesus Christ.

Before leaving this verse, we should take note of the upsetting fact (to most scholars) that these verses are very similar, in fact, almost identical with a passage in Isaiah 2:2-4. The old knee-jerk response to this is to stage a full, learned debate on which is the original! Such a ludicrous contest is postulated by the acceptance of the false premise that similar passages in holy writ are invariably to be understood as the original, and a copy. That is not the case, in either the Old Testament or the New Testament. It presupposes that God could not have spoken to two, or more, prophets in identical words; and where, under the sun of heaven, is any proof of a canard like that? When sacred writers quoted each other, they named the author quoted, usually adding that "God had spoken through him." If either Isaiah or Micah had quoted the other, would he not have said so? But how about the debate? It always winds up with an array of scholars on both sides of the question, as has been the case here. When such a stalemate occurs, then the old reliable proposition is resorted to, that affirms both writers were quoting an older document! "Some scholars propose a third source from which the Holy Spirit led both men to gain material for their discourses."[9] Indeed, what is that third source, that higher authority, that previously existing fountain of wisdom, if it is not God Himself?. God is the author who spoke through Micah.

We do not have to do here with the literature of men, but with the inspired Word of God, who said, "The testimony of two men is true"; and, therefore he has given us the same promise through both Micah and Isaiah, that all men may know that neither wrote from himself, but that he was moved by the Holy Spirit.[10]