Defeat Digital Psyops Aimed at Men's Brains
Micah 4:1–4
Are you short of hope right now? Does it seem to you that the nations are defying God without facing the consequences? This episode is for those who are afraid that the church is going to be swallowed up, and who think that the best we can do is to manage the church’s decline. This is a step back to look at how great our God really is — and how certain his victory is in time, not just in eternity.
I’m Nathan Conkey with God’s World, God’s Way, sponsored by CR101Radio.com, in association with Grace Community School and Nicene Covenant Church.
Micah 4:1–4
Now it shall come to pass in the latter days.
This is something that will happen — not might happen, and certainly not that it won’t happen. It shall come to pass.
When shall it come to pass? In the latter days. What are these latter or last days? The time between the completion of Messiah’s mission and the second coming of the Lord.
What shall happen? That the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains.
A mountain is a kingdom. Mount Zion is a picture of Israel or Judah. Edom is known by Mount Seir, Moab by Mount Nebo, Aram or Syria by Mount Hermon, and Rome — the great enemy of the Christian church — is identified by its seven hills. This great mountain represents a kingdom: the kingdom of God. This is the stone of Daniel that becomes a great mountain filling the entire earth.
What did Jesus come preaching? The kingdom of God. What’s our priority? To seek first the kingdom of God.
And it shall be exalted above the hills. So there was a time when it wasn’t established, wasn’t pre-eminent. In principle, at the coming of Christ, this kingdom of God is established. The Lord Jesus likens it to a mustard seed — the smallest of all seeds. It doesn’t instantly become a mighty tree. That’s not how trees work. The same with the stone of Daniel 2: it took time for that stone to grow to become a mountain covering all the earth. But the kingdom stone and the kingdom seed does grow. And this is the end point: shall be exalted above the hills. So there is a point of growth at which time it is exalted — not just in principle, but in practice.
The Nations Come Up
Now, who comes up to it? Many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.
At this point, when they come up, the kingdom of God is well established — prominent, a dominant fact in the whole world, something established to which you can go up.
When we think of nations, we think of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18–20: Make disciples of the nations, teaching them — what? — all things whatsoever I have commanded (Matthew 28:20). We’ll see shortly why that matters.
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.
And why are they coming up? First, as nations — there’s a national consensus. A consensus doesn’t happen without leadership. I don’t think a nation says Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord without civil leadership: presidents, prime ministers, cabinet members, kings and their courts.
Perhaps we have a faint shadow of this in what Rupert Lowe MP said when he spoke of reimposing a Christian-based rule of law. It’s not a national consensus — but it is a realisation by a leading conservative political figure that the nation must, in some sense, go up to Mount Zion. However faint that impulse might be, I trust it may be genuine.
He will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths.
Derech — the way. Orach — his paths. These are synonyms for what? For out of Zion the law shall go forth. The law is Torah — the law of God, perfected and brought to its fullness in Jesus Christ, further interpreted by the apostles. But it is undeniably the law of God that shall go forth.
So they are coming as nations — but not to a study club. They don’t just want to learn about it. They want to walk in its paths and ways. They want to put the law into practice as the only way that works. It is not the Bible in a general sense — it is the nation seeking to obey, to put into practice, his law.
Now, why did they know to come to Zion in the first place? Before they came, the law went forth. Interestingly, it doesn’t say the gospel went forth — it says the law went forth. Now, there’s no conflict: the gospel is not the law, and the law is not the gospel. But they are inseparable — the lungs are not the heart, and the heart is not the lungs. Try doing without either one and you’re dead. The same with the church. We need both.
But it doesn’t say the gospel went forth. It says the law went forth. Matthew 28:18–20 — teaching the nations all things Christ in the whole Bible has commanded: that is his law, this Torah. And we shall walk in his paths, for out of Zion the law shall go forth — and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. It is the law going forth that draws the nations — as the attractive power of obedience to God’s ways makes the kingdom of God so undeniably excellent that nations say: We have to go. We have to humble ourselves.
This is like the Queen of Sheba being drawn to Solomon because of the reports of his wisdom — wisdom rooted in the Holy Spirit, who is the author of the law of God.
If you’re against the law of God, you’re against the nations being Christianised. You’re against the Great Commission. But the nature of the law is that it must go forth. The law is a beacon that must be broadcast out. And so when we’re thinking of the law, when we’re teaching the law, we should have the nations in mind — pagan nations, less-than-Christian nations, and less-Christianised nations.
He Shall Judge Between Many Peoples
He shall judge between many peoples and rebuke strong nations afar off.
What law book is he judging by? His own — the law of God. Now, Christ is the only mediator between God and man. But the law must mediate between man and man for there to be peace. How do we conduct ourselves as husband and wife? According to the law. How does one nation peacefully coexist with another? Only through the law of God.
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares. Why? Because the law has gone forth faithfully — drawing the nations upward, generation after generation of true prophets speaking to the nations — until the nations come to realise that the old way of governing is self-defeating. It doesn’t work. It’s nonsense. Only then will they be able to beat their swords into ploughshares.
If you’re against the law of God, you are against peace. You’re against the ending of war. You’re against the Christianisation of the world. You’re for continued ongoing bloodshed. The UN is a joke. Only the law of God — only that going out of Zion — is the God-guaranteed way to stop the carnage.
This is very relevant to missionaries. What should be the content of your missionary work? What should be the goal? That the law should go forth, and that the nation as a nation should be discipled.
Did I make this up? I’m just reading Micah 4:1–4, looking up the words, seeing what they mean, comparing Scripture to Scripture.
Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. This will happen. When will it happen? In these latter days — between the ministry of Christ and the second coming. Not in eternity. How? First, by the law going forth — and at a certain point, the attractive power of the law, as it’s acted out, is so great that nations say: We just have to go. We have to humble ourselves. This is also an enacting of Deuteronomy 4:6: For this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
This attractive power only kicks in when you put it into practice. You can put it into practice as an individual — there’s an attractive quality. As a family — there’s an attraction. As a business — there’s attraction. But the pinnacle, where it is meant for, is the entire nation.
Again: if you’re sniffy, if you turn your nose up at God’s law, you are an enemy of peace — and you’re guaranteeing war without mercy and without end.
Everyone Under His Vine and Fig Tree
But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.
What is this a picture of? Why are they sitting under a tree? Well, it’s in the context of peace. They’re sitting there because they’re unmolested — not bothered by the taxman, not threatened by foreign armies. After all, most taxes go to war, whether it be a war against the people in terms of propaganda or a hot war.
Everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree. This is the only genuine utopia possible. And it is not a no-work paradise — if you want to keep figs, if you want to keep vines, it’s hard work. But you’re guaranteed to get to keep your fruit and be unmolested. It’s a picture of a little parcel of earth that’s yours, a little corner of the world which is yours. No one shall steal from you. It’s not a paradise of government handouts — it’s work, but you get to keep the fruits of it all.
This is a picture of the garden renewed. Adam and Eve without the rebellion. The vine and the fig tree may be different things in your context — in Ireland it’s more likely to be potatoes or herds of cattle. But it’s your slice of earth.
Now, many offer this. The Rabshakeh came to the walls of Hezekiah’s Jerusalem and promised: The empire of Assyria will allow everyone to sit under every man’s vine or fig tree. Empires promise this. Big government promises this. We’re going to give you everything that God promises.
And for that matter, the libertarians promise it too. If you follow our way, which exalts the individual man, then you’ll be sitting under your vine unmolested. We just have to complain enough about big government and by magic it will fade away, and a libertarian paradise will surely emerge.
But this is satanic fantasy. This is man as God. Christ is the way — and Christ’s ways, that is the law of Christ, is the only way to true and lasting peace, security, and prosperity. Torah — the law — means way, after all.
Does that sound good to you, or am I crazy? Do you want to be secure in your own property and business with no fear of seizure by the council, the state, or the federal government? To the degree that you conform your own life to the law of God — and proclaim the law of God, teach it to your own family, and perhaps, if it’s your calling, teach it to a wider audience — you’re building a present and a future that is good, godly, and guaranteed in time.
It Is Guaranteed
And no one shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
Which hosts? The Lord of the armies of God. This is how all of this — which seems so impossible in our time — will be accomplished: by the Lord God, who is the commander of the armies of God.
But if you still say: I just can’t believe it. It’ll never happen. What’s that called? Unbelief. When God says one thing in his word and you say: No, it’ll never happen — that’s unbelief. And that’s very serious.
But if your faith is wavering — if you’re just not sure — that’s fine. Don’t take my word for it. Take time to examine this passage. Listen to this presentation a few times. Examine it, meditate upon it, ask the Lord to show you, go through it line by line, go through the cross-references and parallel passages.
Ultimately: God is the Lord. He’s the creator who made everything, sustains everything, has all power. The Lord’s prayer says: For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. And the victory of his kingdom is guaranteed by the mouth of the Lord of hosts.
If you have any more questions, contact me at questions@godsworldgodsway.com.