Verse 1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
When did the “last days” begin? They began with Jesus and the establishment of the Church on the day of Pentecost. “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:” Acts 2:17 “GOD, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;” Hebrews 1:1-2 Should there be any doubt that the Earth and all the people in it today are living in the last days, 2 Timothy 3:1-5 gives an apt description of these days. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
Verse 1 above has never happened in the physical or natural and never will. The Israel of the Jews was made desolate and will not rise again. But spiritual Israel is alive and well, the Church. Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world as it is not physical but spiritual, and it is above all others. People from all nations and tongues have been flowing into it all along for the past 2000 years or so since Jesus’ ministry on Earth.
Verse 2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
The city of Jerusalem was/is built on seven hills, and people in ancient days made pilgrimages to the Temple to perform various rituals and to observe various holy days in order to fulfill the law of Moses and its requirements. Later, when the Pharisees and Scribes were practicing their religion of the Babylonian Talmud and pretending to be following Moses, visitations to Jerusalem by the people were still required by the religious leadership as that was one of the ways they exacted money from the people in order to line their religious pockets. Verse 2 above is not speaking about the physical or natural, but about the spiritual, as there is no physical mountain or Temple any more that would allow this prophecy to come to pass. Mountains are high above everything else and they form barriers. They are symbols of power, strength, safety, and majesty, all words that describe the LORD Jesus Christ. So people from all nations have been coming and are coming to Jesus. The “house of the God of Jacob” today is His people in whom His Spirit dwells. Notice that “he will teach us of his ways” as there is no longer any need for priests or buildings (temples, synagogues) as His Spirit teaches all truth through His Word, the Bible. Jesus fullfilled the law perfectly. He is the Word. The apostles took the Gospel forth from Jerusalem to the whole world. The above prophecy was fullfilled and continues to be fullfilled as it is the living Word or living prophesy of God.
Verse 3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
The following verses provide a glimpse into what it will be like to be in eternity with the LORD.
Verse three above has not yet happened and will not happen until the return of the LORD Jesus Christ to this Earth to judge and to end time and usher in eternity. It is a picture of peace everywhere.
Application: Who was the original warmonger? Today the world is full of war, destruction and death. Where does it come from? Governments of nations promote wars to gain power, riches, and land and to promote their agenda which emanates from Satan himself. The power elites of the nations are warmongers, encouraging aggression towards other nations and people who have not and who are not a threat to them, but who are in the way of the fulfillment of their Satan driven agenda of forming a one-world government without the presence of Christianity. So the original warmonger was/is Satan and he is the driving force behind all the insanity in the world today. Until Jesus returns and destroys Satan’s system and the Earth by fire and establishes “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13) there can never be peace on Earth and goodwill towards men.
Verse 4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
This picture of safety, security, peace, and harmony is promised by God Who spoke it through the prophet Micah, but it is future when time is no more and eternity is the home of the righteous. As long as the wicked are present, this cannot happen in its entirety. After Jesus returns and judges this Earth, the righteous will be in Heaven and the wicked will be in the Lake of Fire along with the devils so that sin will be no more and God’s people will be with Him forever.
Verse 5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
All people are/will be in eternity. Those who rejected Jesus and followed other gods will follow them still into Hell. Those who received Jesus and walked with Him on Earth will walk with Him in Heaven forever.
Verses 6-7 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; 7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.
This is a picture of Christian believers in the Church and how they are viewed by the world: the crippled, the outcast, and the wounded. By the world’s standards believers are mentally ill, relying on an invisible God. They are not accepted and are persecuted for their faith. Their reward from the LORD will be that, as a faithful remnant, they will rule and reign with Jesus Christ in Heaven forever. All believers will be one spiritual nation under God forever. God uses the weak and those viewed by the world as foolish to accomplish His purpose. “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;” 1 Corinthians 1:27 The mount Zion referenced above is the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Application: These verses are taught by pastors and theologians as proof that there will be a restoration of the physical nation of Israel in which there will be peace and safely. Has that happened yet? Has there been peace and safety in the world since the forming of the physical, fake nation of Israel in 1948? Of course, there has not. This false doctrine of Israeli restoration is part of the deception from Satan that keeps most Christian churches from understanding the times in which they are living and from understand world events that are happening all around them. The verses above are clearly referring to events that can only happen when Jesus Christ returns and Satan is cast forever into the Lake of Fire along with all the wicked and evil people who have rejected the LORD and His offer of salvation. The words, “in that day”, point to a specific moment in time and not to a 1000 years of Israeli domination here on Earth. The day is the last one on Earth in which the LORD Jesus Christ returns, judges and sentences all of mankind, and then ushers in eternity with the new Heavens and Earth. Only then will all of God’s children be gathered together under the reign of Jesus in the heavenly Jerusalem in mount Zion in the sides of the north. “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” Psalms 48:2
Verse 8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.
Where on the Earth did the spiritual Kingdom of God first come? To Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost when the Church was started in the upper room with the apostles of the LORD, and the promised comforter, the Holy Ghost, was given to them with power from on high. The Hebrew word translated as “dominion” is “memshalah” and it means rule, dominion, realm, or domain. So Jesus Christ brought His spiritual kingdom to Jerusalem first, and from there it spread to the entire world. The phrase, tower of the flock, comes from the Hebrew name, Migdal-Eder, which was a shepherd’s watchtower near Bethlehem, the birthplace of the Savior.
Verse 9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.
The prophet Micah returns to the reality of events on Earth. He asks why the people of Judah are crying in distress, after all, they have relied on their earthly kings and prophets. They collectively decided they did not need the LORD. Perhaps this is sarcasm.
Verse 10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.
The prophet Micah prophesies that the nation of Judah will go into captivity in Babylon. He uses the physical birth process as an analogy. The trouble will start slowly like the beginning of labor pains and then gradually increase in intensity and duration until the people of Judah are exiled to Babylon. This came to pass approximately 135 years after Micah wrote this book. However, God in His mercy and grace would provide a remnant that would return to Jerusalem. Why? Because He loves His people and because the physical line had to be preserved down to Joseph and Mary and therefore to Jesus so that prophecy could be fulfilled.
Verses 11-12 Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. 12 But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.
The promise of hope out of a prophecy of doom. Again these verses are spiritual in nature and not in the natural. The nations are gathered against the LORD as unbelievers are ignorant of the ways of God. “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure.” Psalm 2:1-5 The nations have been, and as long as time exists, will be gathered against the LORD and against Jesus and the Church. But God will protect and gather His people to safety just as the farmer gathers sheaves into the floor of the barn and then threshes them to separate the good grain from the useless chaff.
Verse 13 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: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. (Micah 4)
Again, these verses are spiritual as the natural nations of Israel and Judah never became forces to be reckoned with after their captivity into Assyrian and then Babylon. They were never again a world power. So this horn of iron which represents strength has to be referring to the LORD Jesus Christ and to His victory over the powers of darkness, sin, death and Hell. “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Psalm 2:9