How Do We See the Gospel in the Old Testament Book of Micah?

It was Mother’s Day, 2009. I had a few Sunday morning sermons under my belt at this point, when a church about an hour away needed a substitute preacher quickly. I’d been doing an overview series of the Minor Prophets with our teenagers. But the book was Micah. Here is a little sample of Micah: 

“Then I said, 'Now listen, leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Aren’t you supposed to know what is just? You hate good and love evil. You tear off people’s skin and strip their flesh from their bones. You eat the flesh of my people after you strip their skin from them and break their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.' Then they will cry out to the Lord, but He will not answer them. He will hide His face from them at that time because of the crimes they have committed.”

Hardly a great text for Mother’s Day. But I proceeded. And I did so because of all the Minor Prophets we went through, Micah was one were the gospel shined very clearly. Continue reading to see how we can find the gospel in the book of Micah. 

How Do You Find the Gospel in the Old Testament?

I suppose before understanding how to find the gospel in the OT, it’d be helpful for us to define the gospel. The simplest definition is one given by JI Packer: God saves sinners. If you’d like to put a bit more meat on your gospel presentation, I use two different frameworks with four points each. The first is God—Man—Christ—Response. The second is more of a story: Creation—Fall—Redemption—Glory. 

The first presentation centers upon God’s character and how humanity fails to meet God’s holy standard, as such the judgment of God is upon us. But the good news is that Jesus Christ fixes this by fulfilling what is required through his life, death and resurrection. Our only fitting response, then, is to respond to Him in repentance and faith. When this happens, we are united to Christ and his record becomes our record. 

The second presentation centers upon the overarching story of the Bible. God lovingly created us to love Him and enjoy Him forever. We were made for rest, rule, and relationship. But we made shipwreck of this, and so rather than having the blessings of obedience we are under the curse of disobedience. Rather than having peace (rest), purpose (ruling), and healthy relationship we often experience the opposite. Ultimately, we are alienated from God. But thankfully God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bear our curse and to fulfill what God intended for humanity. As such we now experience the blessings of Jesus’ obedience in our place. He restores the rest, rule, and relationship we were created to enjoy. Someday everything will be ultimately restored and we will live in a new heaven and a new earth. 

We could write entire books focusing on these various themes of the gospel. But every gospel story follows this basic skeleton. No matter where you find yourself in the Old Testament (or the New Testament) you can find one of these various threads. Every place in Scripture is either telling you something about God, something about our rebellion, something about His rescue, or something about our future restoration. If you can spot this, then you can fill out the rest of the story. 

How Do You Find the Gospel in Micah?

For most people, their only exposure to the book of Micah is through one of it’s most popular verses. Micah 6:8 says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

The problem outlined in the book of Micah is that Israel (and by implication all of humanity) has not done what the Lord requires. Micah was written around the time of Isaiah, and you can read Isaiah to see that the people were honoring God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. They didn’t do justice. Covenant faithfulness was not the driving force behind their actions. And their humble walk with God was mechanical – if it even existed. 

This is why the first point in my sermon was about our great sin before a holy God. If we’re honest, though, this shouldn’t be controversial. Not even on Mother’s Day. I think every mom feels it within the depth of her being that she isn’t perfect and often isn’t exactly the Proverbs 31 woman. No matter how awesome they are, they are going to sin. We each have sin, sometimes dark and debilitating sin, lurking inside of us. That’s true for man, woman, and child.

Owning up to this was the first step for the people in Micah’s day. If they tried to hide their rebellion or pretend they weren’t guilty, they’d never find healing. But this is precisely what they did. In Micah 3:11 they told Micah, “…the Lord is in the midst of us.” That was their way of saying, “Bro, we’re doing just fine. The temple is still here. God is still here. We are still his chosen people. Don’t worry about us, give your message to someone else.” But they weren’t okay. God had just been graciously overlooking 500 years of rebellion. 

Our sin is great. The sooner we own up to this the sooner we can drink deeply of my second point in that Mother’s Day sermon – our Savior is greater. Martin Luther once said these shocking words: 

“If you are a preacher of grace, then preach a true and not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As long as we are here [in this world] we have to sin. This life is not the dwelling place of righteousness, but, as Peter says, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. It is enough that by the riches of God’s glory we have come to know the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. No sin will separate us from the Lamb, even though we commit fornication and murder a thousand times a day. Do you think that the purchase price that was paid for the redemption of our sins by so great a Lamb is too small? Pray boldly — you too are a mighty sinner.”

Luther’s point was that we don’t have to hide like those in Micah’s day. We can acknowledge that we do not match up to Micah 6:8. But the gospel tells us that Jesus does, and his perfect record is given to us. Jesus does that which is required for us to be pleasing to God. 

Micah 7:7-9 is a beautiful picture of the gospel. Here Micah places Israel in the exilic period and personifies the people in one man – a man who is sitting on the ash heap of sin and abandonment. His sin has caught up with him and condemnation feels thick. Darkness surrounds him and the enemies of God, and his own enemies, and perhaps even his own soul is mocking him. But listen to this boldness: 

“But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.”

Ultimately, it is Christ who bears the indignation of the Lord. And it is Christ who will rise. But His death is our death. His rising is our rising. Micah predicted a time when a new shepherd would lead the people. And he would do it in a New Jerusalem filled with God’s presence. And this shepherd would be a king who would rule righteously. This shepherd-king is none other than Christ. 

But Christ becomes that ruling shepherd by also becoming that mourning person of Micah 7. The one who bears the indignation of the Lord. Who takes upon Himself our sin, but who is ultimately vindicated. 

This is why we can say, “our sin is great, our Savior is greater”. And that’s why you can preach the beautiful gospel of Jesus from Micah…even on Mother’s Day if you need to. 

Source
Hendrix, Martin Luther, 121-122

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