A Future Siege of Jerusalem
Meanwhile they taste sorrow, for Jehovah will surely deal in discipline with His people. He will not take them up and re-establish them without moral exercises and a deep spiritual process in their souls. This is now described. Also, many nations shall be gathered. Not only will there be a question of sin raised in the breast of every Israelite then to be saved, but there will be outward distress under the retributive hand of God, when the nations gather with the thought to defile and destroy Zion. But Jehovah says, “They know not the thoughts of Jehovah, neither understand they His counsel; for He shall gather them as sheaves into the floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people [many nations], and I will consecrate their gain unto Jehovah, and their substance unto Jehovah of the whole earth” (Micah 4:12-1312But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. 13Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. (Micah 4:12‑13)). “Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us” (vs. 1); that is, against the Jew. It is the Assyrian who will then come up—the last king of the north. “He hath laid siege against us” (vs. 1). There is to be a future siege of Jerusalem when the Jews return in unbelief unto their land and God is beginning to work in some of their hearts. “He hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek” (vs. 1).
The Jews once despised and insulted, rejected and crucified the Lord of glory, their own Messiah; and this is what brings in the wonderful prophecy that follows: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel” (vs. 2). This is the judge of Israel already spoken of. Thus, the second verse is unequivocally a parenthetic description of who this judge of Israel is. Though there may seem to be remarkable abruptness in the way it is introduced here, it is scarcely possible to doubt that what has been already explained gives the object and accounts for the manner of the prophet and is the key to the passage. Why is it that the Lord allows the last siege of Jerusalem? He says it is because of their conduct towards their ruler and judge. Who was the judge? He was born in Bethlehem, but not this only, for “His goings forth have been of old from everlasting” (v. 2). He was a divine person. He in grace became a babe in Bethlehem; but He was Jehovah the true God of Israel. Then follows the conclusion of the sentence begun in the first verse. “Therefore will He give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of His brethren shall return unto the children of Israel” (vs. 3).
The Everlasting, but Crucified One Is Judge of Israel, and Zion Is in Travail but Delivered
It is Zion “which travaileth.” This is a most important statement to understand. When Christ, the judge of Israel, came the first time, they would not have Him, but contumeliously refused Him. The consequence of His death on the cross was that God raised Him from the dead, and He went up in due season to heaven. Christ ascended to the right hand of God, and there He began a new work, namely, the calling out of a heavenly people to share His portion on high. This is what is going on now. If we have Christ at all, we have Christ for heavenly glory; that is, a Christian has—and this is what we are if we have any living portion in Christ. But then He means to have an earthly people by and by, and consequently, in the midst of this final siege of Jerusalem the judge of Israel will reappear. He has given them up for the time because of their unbelief and rejection of Himself; but He does not give up forever. “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Rom. 11:2929For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. (Romans 11:29)). As sure as He chose that people of old, He will renew His links with them by and by. But they are nonetheless allowed to suffer the consequences of their own mad and wicked rejection of the Messiah meanwhile; and when He comes back again, it will be in the midst of their bitterest sorrows. Under such circumstances she that travails will bring forth.
When the Remnant of His Brethren No Longer Quit Their Old Hopes for the Church as Now, but Return to the Sons of Israel
The end of her pangs will come through His grace, and the morning without clouds shall succeed the long night. Oh, how deep will be the joy when He whom they had rejected of old is once more restored to them, the Judge of Israel! when, instead of taking Jews out of their Israelitish position to bring them into the church of God begun at Pentecost and going on ever since, the remnant of His brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. They go back to their Jewish hopes. Such is the meaning of the third verse. The remnant of His brethren, instead of being taken out of their old associations and made Christians as now, will resume their place as children of Israel. For the earthly blessing, according to prophecy, there is nothing more important. It is impossible for a man to understand the verse, or expound it properly, who does not see the difference between the heavenly calling now and the earthly calling by and by. This is the reason why the Fathers felt such a difficulty, and went so far astray; for not one of them believed in the restoration of Israel; yet some of them had a measure of light; but they all slipped into the groundless conceit that the Gentile has displaced the Jew permanently, and the church and Israel are to be under the glorious reign of Christ on earth, I may say, jumbled strangely together. That is, it was the most incongruous mixture of heavenly and earthly things that can be imagined.
Then Shall Christ Be Great to the Ends of the Earth
But the revealed truth is that the heavenly people will be on high, and the earthly people on the earth. All is perfect order in the mind of God as usual; and when the Lord will have finished His heavenly work He will come back as Judge of Israel. He is now Head of the church. On earth He will be the Messiah of the Jews, who will then resume their own earthly standing, instead of being absorbed into the church, as believers from among them are now. Next, we are told that “He shall stand and feed in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah His God; and they shall abide.” (vs. 4) Thus the Jews, instead of being swept out of their land, shall be once more settled in it; “for now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth” (vs. 4). All their strength depends on His greatness. “And this man shall be the peace” (vs. 5). He that is our peace in heaven shall be their peace on earth. “This man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land” (vs. 5). How plain that the Assyrian is to reappear for the final dealings of Jehovah at the end of this age, and even at the beginning of the new age! It confirms what we saw in Isaiah. Jehovah will have renewed His connection with Israel when the Assyrian comes up to meet his doom—the head of the combined nations in the great confederacy which is broken just before the millennium.
Then we have this description pursued. “And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from Jehovah, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men” (vs. 7). They shall bring fullness of comfort for the earth; but besides that they are to be as a lion. Now the church may and ought to be like dew, but I do not think—nay am sure—they are never called to be like a lion. Assuredly it would be hard for the most sprightly of popular preachers to elicit any tolerable spiritual significance out of the figure so as to suit the church. The truth is, if we take the Word of God as He has given it, all is plain; Israel are once more in question, for they will be charged with a judicial task on earth.
“And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds” (Mic. 5:8-118And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. 9Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. 10And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: 11And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds: (Micah 5:8‑11)). Graven images are to be destroyed, and vengeance taken on the heathen, such as they have not heard.