I'll turn to you at Micah 4 and 5.
I should have said next Saturday is the big church clean.
!
Doesn't it?
That God is about to turn the lights out.
He's about to shut the door.
Here it is pretty bleak.
Israel's kind of lowest point.
And into that context you get this remarkable promise.
This remarkable prophecy in chapter 5.
Into this bleak scenario of judgment.
Down on the nation.
God gives a promise.
Sennacherib is going to come right up to the door of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is besieged.
And in that very bleak and blackness.
God gives this promise of a royal ruler.
A royal ruler who will bring in God's righteous rule.
And not just in Israel and in Judah.
But it will spread throughout the whole of the world.
We get the leaders we deserve don't we?
That's been our experience as a country the last kind of 10 years.
We get the leaders we deserve when we turn away from God.
But what Micah 4 and 5 tell us is that God is going to send a leader in his grace that we don't deserve.
We know don't we?
Standing this side of the New Testament.
That person is Jesus.
And I want to call him God's once and future king.
God's once and future king.
Who is going to bring in God's now and not yet kingdom.
Are the two things I want us to think about.
He is God's once and future king.
Who will bring in God's now and not yet kingdom.
He is the royal ruler.
Who will bring in God's judgment throughout the whole world.
And he is God's once and future king.
Who is going to bring in God's now and not yet kingdom.
Look what it says in verse 2 of chapter 5.
You know this because you'll have heard it in Christmas carol service readings.
But you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah.
From you shall come forth for me one who is to be a ruler in Israel.
Whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
See that mention of Bethlehem?
That little town that's hardly on the map.
There are two Bethlehems.
That's why it differentiates.
That's why it says there is Bethlehem Ephrathah.
He's saying make sure you get the right Bethlehem.
Make sure you go to the right place.
It's a tiny little township.
Five or six miles outside of Jerusalem.
And the mention of Bethlehem has a kind of ominous ring to it.
Because the birth of the Messiah takes place in Bethlehem.
A suburb outside of Jerusalem.
Not in the heart of the city of David where you'd expect.
It supposes, doesn't it?
It gives you and I a hint.
Why is he born outside the city?
Not right in the center of the city.
It's supposing to us that the family of David, they'll no longer be in the position of power.
They'll no longer be on the throne in Jerusalem.
They'll have fallen into poverty.
It's as if the quest for the coming king which the world needs has got to go all the way back to the stump of Jesse.
It's no longer a great oak.
It's no longer a great tree.
It's just a stump.
And so this little township of Bethlehem.
There'll be no royal starter kit still available in Jerusalem.
The Davidic dynasty will have been cut off.
But out of Bethlehem, this little place outside Jerusalem will come God's once and future king.
Who will bring in God's now and not yet kingdom.
And so let's look at the now and not yet kingdom first.
That's the order in which these verses come in chapter 4.
There are no chapters and verses in the original which make it a little bit difficult to kind of divide up.
And we're meant to see the contrast between the end of chapter 3 and the start of chapter 4.
And so look at the end of chapter 3.
Jerusalem, well Zion, God's city.
The kind of apple of God's eye is going to be ploughed like a field.
Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins.
And the mountain of the house, it'll become like a wooded height.
Just think of that.
The temple mound, it's overgrown with weeds.
There's moss growing on the rubble.
But in the last days, verse 4,
it shall come to pass in the latter days,
that the mountain of the Lord will be established.
The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains.
It's picture language, isn't it?
It's saying to you, this mountain is going to grow.
It's going to grow to the highest mountain there is.
And so one minute, he says at the end of chapter 3,
it'll be overgrown with brambles.
It'll be a complete mess.
It'll be a heap of ruins.
But the next minute, it's going to be raised.
And so that not only the peoples of Israel,
but all the nations of the world will stream to it.
And what is this all about?
Well, notice that little phrase.
Can you see it in verse 1 of chapter 4?
It's in the latter days.
This kingdom that is going to come, Micah is saying,
it's not for now,
it's for the future.
It sounds too good to be true.
Out of the ruins,
out of the ruins,
God is actually going to build
an international,
universal,
supernatural kingdom.
I mean it.
Just look at what it sounds like.
Look what it says, isn't it?
It tells us, isn't it,
in Micah 4,
that swords will be beaten into plowshares.
Spears into pruning hooks.
They're not going to study war no more.
Their famous verses,
politicians often quote it without realizing.
Martin Luther King put them in a famous speech,
didn't he?
He used this imagery.
Swords and spears.
Farming imagery.
And so tanks will be turned into tractors,
Micah's saying.
Bombs will be turned into bailers.
Missiles will be turned into milking parlors.
He's saying there's a beautiful picture coming of a new world.
If you've seen Lord of the Rings, isn't it?
The great battles.
And the battles of Middle Earth.
And the end of the film,
it ends with them in the shire
and everything's beautiful.
That's the picture.
That's why Tolkien got it from him anyways.
There'll be no more military academies,
no more terrorist training camps.
All will be shut down
because it will be a world
that we will all want to see.
It's universal.
It's international.
But it's also individual.
Can you look at verse 4?
In verse 4,
Because they shall sit every man
under his vine and under his fig tree.
And no one shall make them afraid.
It's a picture of security
where people will be unafraid.
You'll leave the locks unlocked.
The doors unlocked at night.
And all the nations will be there
and every man will sit under his own fig tree.
Not only that,
but the peoples will come streaming up to this.
You ever seen a river going up the mountain?
Streams don't usually go up mountains, do they?
They don't.
But here's a picture, isn't it?
The mic is giving you
of a temple mountain of Jerusalem.
And the temple mountain is being raised
higher than all the mountains of the earth.
And the nations are streaming towards it.
And so you can go to central London.
You can go to New York.
You can go to Sydney.
You can go to Beijing.
And you see this beginning to happen.
You see it now, today, on the Lord's Day.
There's a not yet about it,
but it's not happening, isn't it?
This morning, during the hymns,
I tried to count how many nationalities
are in the church.
I got to about 40 this morning.
I think, when you include the people
that aren't here,
it's about 45 nationalities now.
In this little congregation in West London.
This is what God is doing.
Now, there's a not yet about it,
but there is a now too, isn't there?
You see it in the beginnings of John chapter 12.
And this kingdom, there were some Greeks
that came to Jesus,
and they came with a request.
They came to Philip of Bethsaida.
They were up in Jerusalem for a visit,
these Greeks.
And they come to Philip,
and they say,
Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
We would like to see Jesus.
It's a great message for preachers, isn't it?
John Stott, when he was given that
weird lectern at all souls,
engraved on it,
is saying,
Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
It should be the message of every serpent.
And Philip goes to Andrew.
Andrew then goes to Jesus.
And it's interesting how Jesus responds
to this request,
Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
And Jesus replies to this,
to these Greeks.
He says,
The hour has come for the Son of Man
to be glorified.
Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat
falls into the earth and dies,
it remains alone.
But if it dies,
it bears much fruit.
And then Jesus goes on
to speak about his death,
and he says this.
He says,
Now is the judgment of this world.
Now will the rule of this world
be cast out.
And I, when I'm lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men to myself.
And he said this,
John says,
to show what kind of death
he was going to die.
Do you see the point?
It's the beginning of it.
This is the beginning of the now
and the not yet kingdom.
That is the basis
on which the kingdom of God
is going to be established.
The death on the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I am lifted up,
he says,
with arms outstretched
on the cross,
and I will draw all men to myself.
He's talking about people
from every tribe and tongue
and nation, isn't he?
All peoples to him.
And so,
even as we sit in church
this evening,
we sit here tonight
and the nations,
they are streaming up the mountain.
All around the world,
hundreds of thousands of people
are becoming Christians
in places like Africa,
in Southern America,
in China,
places like that.
It's not happening very much
in the UK,
but it is happening.
And who would have thought
that from that little obscure
little place
that isn't even really
on the map,
Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
and this son
of a carpenter
who grew up in Nazareth,
can anything good
come out of Nazareth?
But out of Nazareth
has come God's ruler,
this once and future king.
And the nations
are streaming to him.
It's now
and it's not yet.
Let me just give you
another example of that
in the Old Testament,
Matthew 24.
Listen to what Jesus says there
when he talks very much
about the kind of thing
that you see
in Micah in Matthew 24.
Jesus says to him,
he's warning his disciples
and he says,
see to it that no one
leads you astray,
no one takes you captive,
for many will come in my name
and they'll say,
I am the Christ
and they'll lead many people astray
and you'll hear of wars
and rumors of wars.
That's the not yet,
isn't it?
That is still the studying of war.
That is nation rising
against nation,
Jesus says.
Such things must happen
before the end comes.
And then he says,
this gospel of the kingdom
will be preached
to all nations.
It'll be proclaimed
throughout the whole world
as a testimony
to all nations.
And then he says,
the end will come.
You see,
they haven't beaten
their swords
into plowshares yet.
There's still,
isn't there,
today,
nation rising up
against nation.
There are wars
and there are rumors
of wars.
That is the world
we live in
on a micro
and a macro level.
But in this world
right now,
in the ruins
of the fall,
God is building
his kingdom.
And God is bringing
in his kingdom
through Jesus.
And that good news
of the kingdom of God
is to be preached
throughout the world
and it is preached
as it is preached,
as Jesus is lifted up,
the nations gather
to Jesus.
And it is happening.
It's not a fairy story.
The kingdom of God
is now
that it is not yet.
See what I'm trying
to say.
But there's another
side to this now
and not yet kingdom.
You see it in the second
half of chapter 4
and chapter 5.
Let me read you
from verse 10
of chapter 5.
In that day,
looking forward,
declares the Lord,
I will cut off
your horses
from among you
and I will destroy
your chariots.
I'll cut off
the cities of your land,
I'll throw down
all your strongholds
and I will cut off
sorceries from your hand
and you shall have
no more tellers
of fortunes
and I will cut off,
do you see the cut off,
cut off, cut off
your carved images
and your pillars
from among you
and you shall bow down
no more to the work
of your hands
and I will root out
your Asherah images
from among you.
Destroy your cities
and in anger
and in wrath
I will execute
vengeance on the nations
that did not obey.
Why is that?
What is that?
It's the other side
of this kingdom.
The utter destruction
of God's enemies,
everything that opposes him.
And so you better make sure
that that's not you.
Every entity,
every ology,
every institution,
every individual
that stands in opposition
to God
will ultimately be destroyed.
Look at verses 11 to 13
of chapter 4.
Now many nations
are assembled against you.
Sing,
let her be defiled
and let our eyes gaze
upon Zion
but they do not know
the thoughts of the Lord.
They do not understand
his plan
that he has gathered them
as sheaves
to the threshing floor.
Arise and thrash
your daughter of Zion.
For I will make
your horn iron
and I will make
your hooves bronze
and you shall beat
in pieces many peoples
and should devote
their gain to the Lord,
their wealth to the Lord
of the whole earth.
It's difficult,
I found it difficult
this week to get inside
the language of
Micah 4 and 5
and probably you're
finding that
like I am.
But what it's saying
to you is this,
it's saying to you
every pocket of resistance
against the Lord
will be removed.
That chap wasn't there,
he died in the late 90s
and he lived
in the jungle
of Guam.
He couldn't accept
that the battle
had been lost,
he couldn't accept
that the war
had been lost
so he stayed
in the jungle of Guam.
He refused to accept it,
eventually he was discovered
and brought out.
It wasn't just that
he didn't know
that the war was over,
he did know
that the war was over,
he just wouldn't accept
that the war was over.
He wouldn't accept
that it was over,
that it was game over.
It's game over
if you're opposed to Christ.
And you say,
well that's so Old Testament
again, isn't it?
That's all very,
very Old Testament
but listen to Jesus,
Jesus in Matthew 13,
the parable of the weeds.
Just as the weeds
are gathered
and burned with fire,
so will it be
at the end of the age.
The Son of Man
will send his angels
and they will gather
out of his kingdom
all causes of sin
and all lawbreakers
and throw them
into the fiery furnace
and in that place
there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth
and then the righteous
will shine like the sun
in the kingdom
of their father.
He who is ears,
let him hear.
And so can you see
God's righteous rule
will not be established
until everything
that opposes him
is rooted out
and destroyed.
When God puts out
the rubbish,
make sure you're not
in the bin.
Paul tells us,
doesn't it,
in Romans chapter 8
that the carnal heart,
the sinful mind
is enmity against God.
Enmity,
it is war against God.
That is natural human nature.
It is hostile to God.
And you don't go around
dealing with a placard
saying,
I hate God.
You wouldn't do that,
would you?
You're far,
you're far too civilized
to do that.
But you can live,
can't you?
Like I can live
in God's world
like a sullen teenager
under the roof
of his parents
taking everything
for granted,
living my own
selfish little life
pleasing myself.
I'm totally oblivious
to the God
who's created you
and provided for you
and given you a purpose.
You're an enemy of his.
And you might come to church
but if you've got
an unconverted heart
and an unregenerate heart,
you are at war with God.
And the day will come
when it will be game over
for you.
Now how do we know
that this is going to happen?
Because of this great promise.
Because of something
in these chapters
we just can't ignore.
Something that we can't overlook,
this marvelous prophecy
about Jesus
that God is going to
actually send
from Bethlehem
out of Bethlehem,
he's going to send
his once and future king.
Look at how he's described
in verse 2 of chapter 5.
But you, O Bethlehem of Fratha,
who are too little
to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth
from me,
one who is to be ruler
in Israel,
whose coming forth
is from of old,
from ancient days,
whose origins
are from of old,
from ancient times.
That is God's
once and future king.
It's the stuff, isn't it,
that fairy tales
are made of.
Those are the words,
aren't they,
at the end of verse 21,
that according to the legend
are written on the tomb
of King Arthur,
the ancient king.
The legend is that
he will come back,
won't he?
He'll come back
and he'll free the Welsh
from the English.
That's another story.
But on his tomb,
supposedly lies,
here lies Arthur,
the once and future king.
It's really interesting
with fairy stories,
isn't it?
Fairy stories don't go
out of fashion.
You would think they would.
Fairy stories,
they kind of make
a comeback,
don't they?
They go through
different generations.
Now you've got beauty
and the geek.
But fairy stories
don't die out.
Why don't fairy stories
die out?
Why do fairy stories
have such a powerful
resonance with us?
Why have they got
a hold on us?
C.S. Lewis
and J.R. Tolkien,
the guy who wrote
Lord of the Rings,
they had a famous
discussion on this
before Lewis
became a Christian.
Lewis believed
very much in the myths
and of legends,
but there's a kind of
famous conversation
before he was converted
where he explains
to Tolkien
that he felt
the power of myths
but ultimately
they were untrue.
That's how he put it.
Myths are lies
even though they are
lies breathed
through silver.
Tolkien said,
no, you're wrong.
You're wrong,
they're not.
Tolkien argued
that far from being lies,
these myths and legends,
they pointed to a deeper truth.
That's right.
The fairy stories
that we were taught,
they point to an
underlying reality.
They've got something
in common,
isn't it?
I think Glenn Scrivener
did some work on this
a few years ago.
You can look at it
on YouTube.
The fairy stories,
they point to an
underlying reality
that this world
is under the sway
of the devil.
The prince of this world,
he keeps the minds
of those who don't
believe in Jesus.
He keeps them in darkness.
The whole world
lies in darkness.
That's the reality.
And then along comes
the dragon slayer
to usher in the golden age.
That's the reality.
And this is who the ruler is.
And the myths
are just shadows of that
pointing forward
to the greater story.
Fairy stories
point us to the true story.
The underlying reality,
which is
in our passage this morning,
this evening,
that he who is from of old,
he who was in eternity,
the one who was with God
and the one who was God,
the one who walked with Adam
in the cool of the day,
the one who spoke with Abraham,
the one who wrestled with Jacob,
the one who appeared to Moses
in the burning bush,
the one who led the people
through the wilderness
into the promised land.
That one who is from of old,
from ancient days,
is God's once and future king.
Out of you,
Bethlehem of Fratha,
will come a ruler
who is going to usher in
this incredible kingdom,
this universal kingdom,
this international kingdom.
God's righteous reign.
Look at verse 4.
What's he going to be like?
He shall stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the Lord.
In the majesty of the name
of the Lord his God,
and they shall dwell secure.
For now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.
No more wolves.
No more wars.
No more predators,
because God is going to raise up
a shepherd king
that is promised at the end
of chapter 2.
The shepherd king
who will gather his people
and protect them
and usher in God's righteous rule.
Let me try and round this up.
Let's go back to the slap.
Let's go back to the slap
of chapter 5 in verse 1.
Can you hear the slap?
Must be your troops.
O daughter of troops,
the siege is laid against us.
With a rod they strike.
The judge of Israel on the cheek.
Will they?
Well actually it never happened.
Never happened.
It didn't happen in Micah's time.
It did in Jesus' time,
but never to Hezekiah,
the king during Micah's reign,
Micah's time.
They did slap Jesus across the face,
didn't they?
But they never slapped King Hezekiah.
And Jeremiah tells us why.
I showed you this a few weeks ago,
but in Jeremiah 26,
it's about 100 years after the event,
and Jeremiah is telling what happened
in the time of Micah.
This is what he says in Jeremiah 26,
and verse 18,
he says,
tells us that this prophet,
this preacher, Micah,
he turned up.
A spirit anointed preacher.
And he told all the people of Judah.
He says,
did Hezekiah king of Judah,
and all Judah put him to death?
Did they kill Micah?
Did he not fear the Lord,
and entreat the favor of the Lord,
and did not the Lord relent of the disaster
that he pronounced against them?
That's what happened.
It wasn't actually king,
it wasn't Sennacherib,
who ransacked Jerusalem to disaster.
It didn't happen at the time of Micah.
It was Nebuchadnezzar who came hundreds of years ago,
and wrecked Jerusalem.
It wasn't the Assyrians,
it was the Babylonians.
Because when Micah preached,
when Micah prophesied,
Hezekiah,
the king,
heard the message of God.
He heard about God's once and future king.
He heard about this now and not yet kingdom,
and he broke his heart,
and he repented.
Micah chapter 3, verse 8.
I've not been able to escape this verse this week.
Micah chapter 3, verse 8.
I love this verse,
but as for me,
there's a picture there of the loneliness
of the Old Testament preacher
in an apostate nation.
He could have joined others,
he could have preached a popular message,
he could have gone on the conference circuit in America,
but he says,
as for me,
listen to what he says.
He says,
I'm filled with power,
with the Spirit of the Lord,
with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression,
and to Israel his sin.
He says,
as for me,
I can't preach what you want me to preach.
I can't give you what you want to hear.
I'm not free to do that.
And so here is a man,
the prophet Micah,
who's controlled by the Spirit of God,
by the Spirit of Jesus.
The Spirit that proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Do you remember what Jesus said?
He said,
when the Spirit comes,
what will the Spirit do when the Spirit is poured out?
What will he do?
He'll convict the world of sin and judgment and righteousness.
That's what these chapters are about in Micah,
aren't they?
As Micah stood up,
he must have been one of the most unpopular men of his day.
And when Micah stood up,
as for me,
and the Spirit of God took hold of him,
and the Spirit of Jesus,
God's righteous ruler,
the Spirit of Jesus comes into King Hezekiah's court.
Because Hezekiah was one of those corrupt rulers
that we heard about last week in chapter 3.
And the Spirit of Jesus comes through the preaching of Micah
into the very throne room of God,
and Hezekiah repents.
He's convicted of sin.
And the Holy Spirit,
through this preacher,
Micah,
paints this beautiful picture
of what God's righteous and loving rule looks like.
And he says,
the kingdom that all humanity longs for
is found in God's once and forever King.
And we think it'll never happen,
but Micah gives us a vision of God's righteousness.
And through the Spirit-anointed preaching of Micah,
Hezekiah gets a taste of judgment to come.
And he's warned, isn't he,
that if God's King is going to come,
every kingdom opposed to it will be crushed.
And so Hezekiah repents.
He repents.
And revival.
Revival comes to Judah.
You can read about it in the historical books.
Same thing that happened in Nineveh, isn't it?
Jonah's a much more popular,
much more well-known story.
And Jonah comes to Nineveh,
and he calls on them to repent.
And they did, and there was repentance.
Right from the king's palace,
down to the streets of Nineveh.
And God relented,
and God saved a pagan nation.
And I think that's what London needs, isn't it?
God needs Spirit-anointed preaching
about Jesus to convict the world of sin.
To give a vision of this now and not yet king.
To warn people that if you do not get into this kingdom
through faith in Jesus Christ,
you will be utterly devastated.
And so let me ask you,
who's your ruler?
Who's your ruler?
We get the rulers we deserve.
But God is promising through Micah 4 and 5,
a ruler that you don't deserve.
Is he your ruler?
I read a lovely little story about Martin Luther.
Martin Luther had a friend called Philip Malanthon.
They were both reformers.
Luther was just full, boisterous,
not particularly sensitive.
Melanthon was gentle,
timid.
Luther didn't suffer from anxiety.
He probably could have done with suffering
from a bit more anxiety.
But Melanthon really suffered from anxiety,
worried.
He used to have panic attacks.
Not that they were called that back then.
He worried about everything.
And the story goes that Luther came,
and he would put his hands on Philip's shoulders
and he would say to him,
let Philip cease to rule the world.
Let Philip cease to rule the world.
That's all I want to say to you tonight.
Some of us are chronic worriers, aren't they?
I am a worrier.
I think I know how the universe has got to work.
I think I know how history is going to play out.
I think I know how life has got to happen
for me and for us.
No, I don't.
Stop pretending that I rule the world
and hand it over to the Lord Jesus
and let him rule.
Let him rule the universe.
Let him rule your world.
Let him rock your world.
Because he will bring in his now and not yet kingdom.
Who's going to make the nations study war no more?
Who's going to make the nations
to beat their swords into plowshares?
As politicians,
we know that's not going to happen.
Only Jesus can do that.
And he will only do it
through his spirit-empowered preaching
of the gospel.
Let's pray.
pray.