Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
Micah 7 – Who is Like Yahweh? (Finding Jesus)
Micah means, “Who is like Yahweh?” The answer is “no one,” and that includes a surprise “Someone” “Who is like Yahweh” because He is Yahweh in the flesh. Jesus is “God with us” (Mt.1:23). Finding Jesus in Micah is easy because Matthew points the way:
Matthew 2:6 (HCSB) And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah: because out of you will come a leader who will shepherd My people Israel.”
Micah 5:2 (HCSB) Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; One will come from you to be ruler over Israel for Me. His origin is from antiquity, from eternity.
“Isaiah had foretold his virgin birth (7:14); Micah predicts his village birth” (George L. Robinson, “The 12 Minor Prophets,” p.98). “Micah, the prophet of the poor, foresaw a poor man’s Messiah” (George L. Robinson, “The 12 Minor Prophets,” p.100). This is the Messiah of both Micah and Matthew.
Finding Jesus in Micah is found in surprising too. Micah himself foreshadows the Messiah much like other Old Testament characters (i.e., Isaac, Joseph, David). It begins with Micah’s name, “Who is like Yahweh” which finds expression in Micah 7:18, “Who is a God like you?” Let’s look at the beginning of this chapter and find Jesus (most of the quotes will be from Matthew because he quotes Micah although others are found within the rest of the gospels).
Micah 7:1) How sad for me! For I am like one who — when the summer fruit has been gathered after the gleaning of the grape harvest — finds no grape cluster to eat, no early fig, which I crave.
Matthew 21:18-19 (HCSB) 18) Early in the morning, as He was returning to the city, He was hungry. 19) Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And He said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again! ” At once the fig tree withered.
Micah 7:2) Godly people have vanished from the land; there is no one upright among the people. All of them wait in ambush to shed blood; they hunt each other with a net.
Matthew 22:15 (HCSB) Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap Him by what He said.
Luke 11:53-54 (HCSB) 53) When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose Him fiercely and to cross-examine Him about many things; 54) they were lying in wait for Him to trap Him in something He said.
John 8:6 (HCSB) 6) They asked this to trap Him, in order that they might have evidence to accuse Him. Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with His finger.
Micah 7:3) Both hands are good at accomplishing evil: the official and the judge demand a bribe; when the powerful man communicates his evil desire, they plot it together.
Matthew 26:14-16 (HCSB) 14) Then one of the Twelve — the man called Judas Iscariot — went to the chief priests 15) and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you? ” So they weighed out 30 pieces of silver for him. 16) And from that time he started looking for a good opportunity to betray Him.
Micah 7:4) The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is worse than a hedge of thorns. The day of your watchmen, the day of your punishment, is coming; at this time their panic is here.
Matthew 27:29 (HCSB) 29) They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and placed a reed in His right hand. And they knelt down before Him and mocked Him: “Hail, King of the Jews! ”
Micah 7:5) Do not rely on a friend; don’t trust in a close companion. Seal your mouth from the woman who lies in your arms.
Matthew 26:48-50 (HCSB) 48) His betrayer had given them a sign: “The One I kiss, He’s the One; arrest Him! ” 49) So he went right up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi! ” and kissed Him. 50) “Friend,” Jesus asked him, “why have you come? ” Then they came up, took hold of Jesus, and arrested Him.
Micah 7:6) Surely a son considers his father a fool, a daughter opposes her mother, and a daughter-in-law is against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own household.
Matthew 10:21-22 (HCSB) 21) “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will even rise up against their parents and have them put to death. 22) You will be hated by everyone because of My name. But the one who endures to the end will be delivered.
Matthew 10:35-36 (HCSB) 35) For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36) and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. (quote from Micah 7:6)
Micah 7:7) But I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
Matthew 27:43 (HCSB) He has put His trust in God; let God rescue Him now — if He wants Him! For He said, ‘I am God’s Son.’ ”
Luke 23:46 (HCSB) 46) And Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I entrust My spirit.” Saying this, He breathed His last.
Micah 7:8) Do not rejoice over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will stand up; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
Matthew 27:45-46 (HCSB) 45) From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over the whole land. 46) About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Micah 7:9) Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the LORD’s rage until He argues my case and establishes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His salvation.
Jesus never sinned, and died for our sins not His own.
Micah 7:10) Then my enemy will see, and she will be covered with shame, the one who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will look at her in triumph; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets.
Matthew 26:63-64 (HCSB) 63) But Jesus kept silent. Then the high priest said to Him, “By the living God I place You under oath: tell us if You are the Messiah, the Son of God! ” 64) “You have said it,” Jesus told him. “But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Micah 7:11) A day will come for rebuilding your walls; on that day your boundary will be extended. 12) On that day people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates River and from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.
Acts 1:8 (HCSB) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Micah 7:13) Then the earth will become a wasteland because of its inhabitants and as a result of their actions.
Micah 7:14) Shepherd Your people with Your staff, the flock that is Your possession. They live alone in a woodland surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in ancient times.
Matthew 2:6 (HCSB) And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah: because out of you will come a leader who will shepherd My people Israel.”
Matthew 25:32 (HCSB) All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Micah 7:15) I will perform miracles for them as in the days of your exodus from the land of Egypt.
Matthew 13:54 (HCSB) He went to His hometown and began to teach them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “How did this wisdom and these miracles come to Him?
Matthew 2:15 (HCSB) He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called My Son.
Micah 7:16) Nations will see and be ashamed of all their power. They will put their hands over their mouths, and their ears will become deaf.
Matthew 11:21 (HCSB) “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago!
Micah 7:17) They will lick the dust like a snake; they will come trembling out of their hiding places like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will tremble in the presence of Yahweh our God; they will stand in awe of You.
Micah 7:18) Who is a God like You, removing iniquity and passing over rebellion for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not hold on to His anger forever, because He delights in faithful love. 19) He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 20) You will show loyalty to Jacob and faithful love to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from days long ago.
Luke 1:77-78 (HCSB) 77) to give His people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. 78) Because of our God’s merciful compassion, the Dawn from on high will visit us
Matthew 1:21 (HCSB) She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
Matthew 26:28 (HCSB) For this is My blood that establishes the covenant; it is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Matthew 28:17-20 (HCSB) 17) When they saw Him, they worshiped, but some doubted. 18) Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19) Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20) teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Mark 2:5-10 (HCSB) 5) Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6) But some of the scribes were sitting there, thinking to themselves: 7) “Why does He speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone? ” 8) Right away Jesus understood in His spirit that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 9) Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10) But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He told the paralytic,
Mark 16:15-16 (HCSB) 15) Then He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. 16) Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Luke 24:45-47 (HCSB) 45) Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46) He also said to them, “This is what is written: The Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day, 47) and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
John 20:28 (HCSB) Thomas responded to Him, “My Lord and my God! ”
“Who is a God like You?” The answer is God Himself, in the flesh, incarnated, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham.
Comments