Sermon Tone Analysis

Hard day (first world problems).

Cleaning up the old house.

Setting up the new.

Worked all day, then over and moved heavy stuff, then gathered kids, then helped Logan cook dinner, then kids to bed, then about to start working on some sermon stuff… when I realize I have to drive back to the old house to put the trash out.

It was just one of those “can I just stop adulting for a minute?”

moments.

No matter how bad it is… not matter how good it is… the human heart is always longing for something.

Some sense of home, of peace, of completion.

It is more pronounced when life gets hard, that desire is more desperate

George Washington

Fought in the French-Indian war.

Fought in the Revolutionary War, ultimately as the Commander in Chief.

Just wanted to go home… but they made him go join the Continental Congress and then, after the war, lead the Constitutional Convention.

He wanted to retire to Mount Vernon… but he was made president by popular demand.

He is called the “Man who could have been king” because he set the tone for the presidency, could have held on to power and gathered as much power as he probably wanted.

But he just wanted to go home.

After two terms in the presidency he did.

Washington’s retirement speech/song in Hamilton:

One last time:

If I say goodbye, the nation learns to move on

It outlives me when I’m gone

Like the scripture says:

“Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree

And no one shall make them afraid.”

They’ll be safe in the nation we’ve made

I wanna sit under my own vine and fig tree

A moment alone in the shade

At home in this nation we’ve made

One last time

Recap:

Judgment and Wrath and Destruction… but the day is coming.

But practice - what does the Lord require of us?

To do justice, to love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

Micah offers words of encouragement.

Yes, judgment is coming.

God will save the “lame remnant” (his strength is made perfect in our weakness).

There is hope, there is beauty.

Micah looks forward to what is coming.

He describes restoration, remnant… but what He starts to get at is what we usually call Heaven.

Sequence and Timing

Not about sequence.

Like looking at a far off horizon and the moon rising overhead.

You may switch back and forth describing the scene… but they aren’t all equally far away.

The moon cast light on the mountains, and reflects in the water of the lake… and they all have a beautiful impact in this moment.

But if you are walking to the lake and then the mountaintop and then the moon, those are going to have some different time-spans.

The prophet sees all these things coming, but his purpose is not to give sequence.

His purpose is to give hope to the “lame remnant” who are going to go through the days of judgment to come.

Book

So… what is heaven like?

Peace

This famous phrase “beat their swords into plowshares.”

It also shows up in Joel, but I think Joel is quoting Micah rather than the other way around.

Prosperity

Plenty.

Peace and plenty.

Quoted almost fifty times.

“eating figs in the shade”.

(It also shows up in 1 Kings 4:25, and Zechariah 3:10)… I think both of those are picking up this phrase from Micah… and Washington is almost certainly quoting this particular passage from his phrasing.

“What if I don’t like figs?”

This is a model of plenty.

Like “land of milk and honey” or “streets paved with gold.”

Is gold too soft a metal to pave streets with?

Too reflective maybe for safe transit?

This is “take the things that are most delicious, most enjoyable, symbolic of abundance.”

And it isn’t the result of abundance - everyone will have wine and figs.

It is connected to the source of abundance.

Everyone will have vine and fig tree.

Relax into that plenty, that provision...

and then it rolls back into the peace:

“and no one shall make them afraid.”

Presence

Why?

Because of the number one most common, most prevalent, least metaphorical, most accurate depiction of heaven ever!

There’s tons of imagery that gets thrown around, but this is consistent.

So consistent that this is my working definition of what heaven really is.

No one shall make them afraid - because the Word of the Lord has spoken.

“We walk in the name of the Lord...”

“YHWH will reign over them.”

It gets even more personal in chapter 5.

It’s personal.

The ruler is born in Bethlehem.

Micah 5:1–5a (ESV)

Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.

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 ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.

And 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.

And he shall be their peace.

Who is their peace?

He is.

Who is their plenty?

He is.

The King of Kings, born in Bethlehem.

This is 750ish BC!!! Micah is looking down the pipeline.

“Oh LORD, He’s a-coming!”

This is so specific.

Especially then, Bethlehem is a nothing town, a podunk town.

For reference, some archaeologist estimate Bethlehem to have a population of around 600 when Jesus was born.

6 miles southwest of Jerusalem, little baby suburb.

Micah sees heaven.