From Long Ago, From the Days of Eternity

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray walked the congregation through the entire book of Micah on the first Sunday of Advent, showing that the prophet's message is far richer than the single verse about Bethlehem we hear every Christmas Eve. Micah speaks to a people whose leaders, priests, and prophets have turned corrupt while maintaining a false sense that God is still on their side. The book holds those warnings of...

Read together

1. Matthew 2 wise men filled with joy, bowing down to worship Jesus
2. Romans 15:13 Advent candle lighting, God of hope filling us with joy and peace
3. Isaiah 49 introducing the offering song, God making his servant a light to the Gentiles
4. Micah 1:1 the word of the Lord coming to Micah in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah
5. Micah 1:2 call for all peoples and the earth to hear, Lord as witness against them
6. Micah 1:3-4 the Lord coming down, mountains melting, valleys split like wax
7. Micah 1:5 wrongdoing of Jacob, sins of the house of Israel, Samaria and Jerusalem named
8. Micah 1:6 Samaria made a heap of ruins, stones hurled into the valley
9. Micah 1:7 idols crushed, earnings burned with fire, images made desolate
10. Deuteronomy 18 Moses prophesying about the one to come, which the Samaritan woman recognized
11. Micah 1:8 Micah mourning and wailing, going barefoot and naked like jackals and ostriches
12. Micah 1:9 wound incurable, judgment reaching Jerusalem
13. Micah 1:10-15 list of cities called out in poetic judgment, including Moresheth Gath and others
14. Micah 1:16 shaving bald in mourning, children going into exile
15. Micah 2:1-2 woe to those who devise evil at night and carry it out by day, coveting fields and houses
16. Micah 2:3 the Lord planning catastrophe against the scheming family
17. Micah 2:4-5 mocking song, fields redistributed, no measure line in the assembly of the Lord
18. Micah 2:6-7 do not prophesy, question of whether God's words do not do good for those walking rightly
19. Micah 2:8-9 God's people acting as an enemy, stripping garments, evicting women
20. Micah 2:11 false prophet promising wine and liquor becoming a prophet to the people
21. Micah 2:12 God assembling the remnant of Israel like sheep in a fold
22. Micah 2:13 the one who breaks through going before them, the Lord at their head
23. Micah 3:1-3 leaders of Jacob who hate good and love evil, tearing skin and flesh like meat in a pot
24. Micah 3:4 they cry to the Lord but he will not answer, hiding his face because of their evil
25. Micah 3:5 false prophets crying peace when fed, declaring holy war when not paid
26. Micah 3:6-7 night without vision, sun going down on prophets, no answer from God
27. Micah 3:8 Micah filled with power, spirit of the Lord, justice and courage to declare Israel's sin
28. Micah 3:9-11 leaders despising justice, building Zion with bloodshed, priests and prophets working for money yet claiming God's protection
29. Micah 3:12 Zion plowed like a field, Jerusalem a heap of ruins, mountain of the temple a forest
30. Micah 4:1-2 mountain of the Lord's house established, nations streaming to it, law going forth from Zion
31. Micah 4:3 swords beaten into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks, nations not training for war
32. Micah 4:4 each sitting under his vine and fig tree with no one to make them afraid
33. Micah 4:5 though peoples walk in the name of their own gods, the remnant walking in the name of the Lord forever
34. Micah 4:6-7 the Lord assembling those who limp and the scattered, making them a remnant and a mighty nation
35. Micah 4:8 tower of the flock, former dominion coming to the daughter of Jerusalem
36. Micah 4:9-10 agony like a woman in childbirth, going to Babylon, the Lord redeeming them there
37. Micah 4:11-12 nations assembled against Zion not knowing the Lord's thoughts or his plan
38. Micah 4:13 daughter of Zion to thresh, horn made iron, hooves bronze, dedicated to the Lord
39. Micah 5:1 daughter of troops mustering, judge of Israel struck on the cheek
40. Micah 5:2 Bethlehem Ephrathah, too small among Judah's clans, ruler coming forth whose origins are from eternity
41. Micah 5:3 giving them up until she in labor gives birth, remainder of kinsmen returning
42. Micah 5:4-5 Messiah arising to shepherd his flock in the Lord's strength, this one will be our peace
43. Micah 5:5-6 seven shepherds and eight leaders raised against the Assyrian, Jesus rescuing from the invader
44. Micah 5:7-8 remnant of Jacob like dew from the Lord among many peoples, like a lion among the forests
45. John 1:1 connecting Micah's from the days of eternity to in the beginning was the Word
46. Micah 6:8 benediction, act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God

Talk about it

1. Ray described the tension Micah felt having to deliver a hard message to people he loved. Have you ever been in a situation where you had to speak a difficult truth to someone? What made it hard, and what gave you the courage to do it?
2. Ray pointed out that the leaders, priests, and prophets in Micah's day had a false sense of security, telling themselves 'we are the good guys' even while acting unjustly. Where do you think Christians today are most tempted to assume they are exempt from that same kind of self-deception?
3. Ray said that God used the exile for the good of his people, and that difficulty at the hand of God can be redemptive. Can you think of a hard season in your own life that you later recognized as something God was using for your good?
4. Micah said he was able to speak boldly because he was filled with the power and the Spirit of the Lord. Ray connected that to the idea that before you speak out about what is wrong, you need to make sure you are being filled that way. What does that kind of filling actually look like in a person's daily life?
5. Ray closed with Micah six eight: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. Looking at the three parts of that verse together, which one do you find most natural, and which one do you find hardest to live out consistently?