CHAPTER 3

1 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment? 2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; 3 Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

God is LOVE. And God is JUST!

It would be UNjust if God didn't punish those who commit evil. Therefore, these leaders (princes) shall know God's "judgment." Judgment, in this sense, is disciplinary action.

God describes what the leaders are doing as inhumane treatment of others. To quash truth and promote evil is to "hate the good, and love the evil."

This action causes people to SUFFER!

4 Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings. 5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. 6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. 7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.

In verse 5, God says that when prophets know of war and do not speak up, they are guilty of causing the people to "err." When God has said that war is coming, and prophets speak "peace" instead, they are holding back truth and promoting a lie.

This action has two results. First, God will not "hear them" (verse 4). Their prayers are not heard because God will not listen to those who refuse His truth.

The second result is that God gives no "vision" to false prophets; they have no REAL proclamation to make.

It is a SHAME when people calling themselves Christians do not speak the truths of God! There is a REAL war going on between people and the devil. If Christians do not proclaim SURRENDER to Christ as the only salvation, then they are not hearing God, God is not hearing them, and they have no vision of truth.

8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

In order for repentance to come, truth must be declared. When a person is genuinely saved by Christ, he is "full of power by the Spirit of the LORD!" Ephesians 1:13 declares that Christians are "SEALED" in the Spirit of God. And Romans 1:16 tells us that declaring the "gospel of Christ" is the "power of God" which brings salvation to the lost.

When Christians boldly proclaim the truth of God's salvation through Christ, God's Holy Spirit accompanies that truth and brings conviction to the hearers. Conviction is "godly sorrow" and "godly sorrow worketh repentance" (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Man cannot convince man of sin; only God can do that. But telling people of Christ shows that the speaker is "full of power by the Spirit of the Lord," and God ACCOMPANIES that with conviction by His Holy Spirit.

HEAR THIS Christians, and join with Micah! Declare the gospel of Christ and show that you are "full of power by the Spirit of the Lord."

9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. 10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us. 12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

If the leaders of the nation do not hold to truth, then they "pervert all equity." When truth is forsaken, the nation is built upon "blood" by "iniquity." (See Ezekiel 33:8-9) When Christians do not proclaim the truth of Christ, and salvation ONLY by Him, the guilt and blood of the lost is upon THEM!

When people calling themselves Christians do not proclaim the truth of Christ, they are only living for "reward" (verse 11) even though they proclaim that they are Christians, and that God will surely protect them.

Listen, my friend: I can park my bicycle in the garage, but that doesn't make it a car! When a person SAYS he/she is a Christian he/she will give EVIDENCE by proclaiming the gospel, and living in obedience to God's truths.

The Israelites and Judahites failed to proclaim the truth of salvation ONLY through surrender to the Lord. God took away their national status. They lived as the world lives and not as God were the ONLY God, and God destroyed their church building!

The REAL evidence of a Christian is the genuineness of his/her testimony. And that testimony will find its way into the Christian's conversations OFTEN!

Shall we claim to be Christians and not proclaim Christ?
When that happens, then truth is forsaken and equity is perverted!
When that happens, the blood of lost souls is upon the house of God!
God will surely forsake and destroy such a house even though it is called by His Name!

PLEASE CONTINUE WITH US IN BIBLE STUDY TOMORROW.