As Micah continued his
prophesy concerning Samaria and Jerusalem, he shared how the LORD
“from His holy temple” was to be a witness against them as
He “came forth out of his place,” and
He was to “come down, and tread upon the high places of
the earth.” There was no doubt
that judgment was to begin for Samaria and Jerusalem, and in chapter
one and verse four Micah shares the results of the LORD coming to the
earth where we read:
And the mountains shall
be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before
the fire,
and as the
waters that are poured down a steep place.
The
verse begins, “And the mountains shall be molten under
him, and the valleys shall be cleft,” As
a continuation to his thought, Micah used the word “And”
as he began with the first of the following descriptions of the
coming of the Lord - “the mountains shall be molten” or
“dissolved, vanished, melted, wasted away or dropped off” “under
him” or “under his feet”.
Micah then added, “and the valleys”
or “vale, lowland or open country” “shall be cleft”
which means “to split, cleave, break open, divide, break through,
rip up, break up, or tear”. Not only would the mountains melt when
the Lord came down, but the valleys would be torn or split by His
appearance.
The
verse goes on to say, “as wax before the fire, and
as the waters that are poured down a steep place.”
Micah continued with his
description of the LORD's coming with “as wax before”
or “as when wax is face to
face with “the fire”.
We know the results of wax being exposed to fire, and the quick
melting of wax is a graphic illustration which would be known by
everyone who heard it. The prophet also included, “and as
the waters that are poured” which
refers to the emptying of vessels of water “down a steep
place” or “down a descent,
slope, hanging work or bevelled work”. We can imagine the ease by
which those who heard this example would understand the ominous
appearance of the LORD when He comes.
Let us allow ourselves to
take a moment to meditate upon the examples given by Micah to
describe the Lord's appearing - “Mountains molten”, “Valleys
cleft”, “wax before fire” and “waters poured down steep
places”. What if the Lord were to appear in this manner today?
Would we see His coming as ominously as this description? Judgment
was to begin for Samaria and Jerusalem because they had forsaken the
Lord and followed other gods. Would it be different for us today or
the same? May the Lord help us remember how powerful and awesome He
truly is, and may we humble ourselves before Him as we begin to
realize Jesus could return at any time.
Next
time Micah tells the people why the LORD was to tread upon their
mountains and valleys, so read ahead,
and we shall join
together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
http://www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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