Micah 4 - the Mountain of the LORD's House.
As we read through Micah, we see that mountains are featured throughout as centres of worship.
The corrupted worship centred on the mountains of Samaria & on Jerusalem is condemned in the opening chapter.
The passage under discussion is:
Micah 3:12 Therefore because of you, Zion will be ploughed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.
4:1 In the last days
the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it.
2 Many nations will come and say,
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
3 He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.
4 Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig-tree, and no-one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.
5 All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
. . . .
5: 2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labour gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.
5 And he will be their peace.
The question before us is "How is this prophecy concerning the mountain of the LORD to be fulfilled?"
Are there parallel passages of Scripture which will help us understand?
In Isaiah 2 we read an identical prophecy.
In Daniel 2 we read Nebuchadnezzar's dream as interpreted by Daniel:
34 You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
. . .
44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
These prophecies clearly refer to the LORD Jesus Christ coming to set up his everlasting Kingdom.
The mountain of the LORD is no rocky geological feature, and the LORD's house established there is no stone temple.
The prophecy refers to Christ himself. He is the true temple, (John 2) & he is the mountain that fills the whole earth.
As we read on, we see the birth of Jesus prophesied in Bethlehem. (Mat. 2)
We see his greatness, yet as Prince of peace:
He shall be great To the ends of the earth; And this One shall be peace.
He came to establish the title to his kingdom, by his victory over Satan & sin at the cross, by his death & resurrection.
The work of his servants, his witnesses, now is to call sinners from all nations into his kingdom by the Gospel, through repentance & faith.
He will come again to claim his kingdom & establish it in righteousness. The age of grace we are living in will end.
Those who refused to lay down their weapons of rebellion against the LORD will be terrified.
Those who continued to worship images will throw them away.
As Isaiah continued in chapter 2:
12 For the day of the Lord of hosts
Shall come upon everything proud and lofty,
Upon everything lifted up--
And it shall be brought low--
13 Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up,
And upon all the oaks of Bashan;
14 Upon all the high mountains,
And upon all the hills that are lifted up;
. . .
The Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
18 But the idols He shall utterly abolish.
19 They shall go into the holes of the rocks,
And into the caves of the earth,
From the terror of the Lord
And the glory of His majesty,
When He arises to shake the earth mightily.
20 In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver
And his idols of gold,
Which they made, each for himself to worship,
To the moles and bats,
21 To go into the clefts of the rocks,
And into the crags of the rugged rocks,
From the terror of the Lord
And the glory of His majesty,
When He arises to shake the earth mightily.
When the Lamb of God, despised & rejected in his lifetime on earth, comes to claim his Kingdom will you meet him with a joyous welcome, or with guilty terror?
Revelation 6 show joy for those who have died in the service of their Redeemer, & terror for those who rejected him:
9
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and *behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the *moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, *the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"
A further Word from Jesus himself, when asked about mountains for worship.
John 4: 19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."
21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things."
26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
The fulfilment of the "Mountain of the LORD" prophecies is the LORD Jesus Christ himself.
Micah has a further Word of encouragement for returning sinners.
7: 15 "As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them wonders."
16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
They shall put their hand over their mouth; Their ears shall be deaf.
17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent; They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord our God, And shall fear because of You.
18 Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy.
19 He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.
20 You will give truth to Jacob And mercy to Abraham, Which You have sworn to our fathers From days of old.
It will be utterly foolish to wait for Christ to return, & then to seek to hide from his face in the rocks. There will be no escape.
Rather come now to him. Return in penitential fear and find that Christ pardons iniquity & delights in mercy.
He shall be our peace.
May we all come to know Jesus, who is our everlasting peace.