Micah 4:1-3
One of many Messianic prophecies is found in Mic 4:1-3 (“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore;”), in which we read that the mountain of the Lord's house will be established and the Word of the Lord will go forth from Jerusalem. -- Fulfillment of this wonderful age began with the spread of the gospel and establishment of the Lord's church, or kingdom - Lk 24:44-47 “Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”; He 12:18-24 “For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, "If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned." Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear." But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”, 28 “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,”. Those willing to come to the mountain of the Lord's house will be taught concerning the Lord's ways and walk in His paths - Mic 4:2. Among the things they will learn, is not to use war anymore - Mic 4:3. While the ancient kingdom of Israel often resorted to war, such would not be the case with the kingdom of the Messiah. Its kingdom would be spiritual, not advanced or defended by the use of force - Jn 18:36 “Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world."’ Its citizens would learn a new way to respond to evil and handle conflict
In the words of Micah (and Isaiah, see for example Isa 2:1-4), “Neither Shall They Learn War Anymore.” In what way do we see this fulfilled? One way is in the teaching of Jesus concerning reacting to conflict and evil. The following are ways people are known to react:
The Avenger: retaliates with force with the objective to punish.
The Defender: uses force only for the sake of self-preservation.
The Passive Resister: resists without the use of force, daring the evil person to harm an unarmed person (for example, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, et al).
The Runner: flees from abuse, seeking to escape.
The Helpless: unable to flee or defend, passively allows others to mistreat them/
Let’s now look at some scripture text to see how Jesus taught us to react. Consider the words of Jesus and His apostles - Lk 6:27-31 ‘"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.”; Ro 12:17-21 “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” When we examine these verses carefully, we note the following. We are not being taught to:
1) Be a Passive Resister (contrary to Ghandi, King, et al).
2) Be a Runner (though Jesus taught the principle of fleeing elsewhere – see for example Mt 10:23).
3) Stand Helpless.
We are being taught to:
1) React to evil in a positive way.
2) To overcome evil with good.
Jesus taught the principle of “responding to active evil will with active good will”. Someone does us evil, we are to react with good. Note the examples used by Jesus: when someone...
1) Curses you, bless them.
2) Spitefully uses you, pray for them.
3) Strikes you, offer the other cheek.
4) Takes your cloak, give them your tunic.
5) Ask for something, give it to them.
6) Take something from you, don't ask it back.
-- In each case, one reacts to evil with active good will (i.e., love)
Thus Jesus teaches us another way to deal with conflict and respond to evil abuse: not by using instruments of war, nor by simply remaining passive or necessarily fleeing, but by reacting to evil with positive expressions of good will towards the offender! Why does Jesus teach us to do this...? The reason to react with active good will is to be different from sinners - Lk 6:32-34 ‘"If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.” It is human nature to show good will only to friends. To react to enemies as:
1) Avenger
2) Defender
3) Passive Resister
4) Runner
5) Helpless
We are called to be partakers of the divine nature - 2 Pe 1:2-4 “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” We Are to put off the old man, with its typical reaction to abuse - Co 3:5-9 “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.” Putting on the new man, reacting to abuse in a new way - Co 3:10-14 “and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
-- As we do so, we become more like Christ, which leads to the second reason...
In being called to be partakers of the divine nature how can we be like God? We will examine this in the second part of this lesson.
