Who Is Like Unto Our God?

In Micah 4:1-8, we see the good news of the Millennium in a magnificent prophecy of the perfect peace, security, radiant prosperity and everlasting duration of God’s Kingdom. The Eternal exhorts the people of Israel not to be discouraged at their approaching captivity; because in due time, they will not only be delivered from it, but will also be victorious over all their enemies.

In verses 1 and 2 of chapter 4, Micah says the law of God in the last days will “be established in the top of the mountains … exalted above the hills,” and that “the law shall go forth of Zion”—God’s Church.

What God wants us to have is an education in the law of God, because that is what will go out from Zion. How educated are you in the law of God? How much could you teach about the law of God?

How can anyone justify not keeping God’s law? Keeping that law will solve all the problems of this whole world very soon. It isn’t the knowledge of this world that we need. We must become experts in applying God’s law today, or we can’t be used by God to rule with Him in the beautiful world just ahead. This is the only way to bring peace into our individual lives—as well as into our families and our nations!

“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. 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” (verses 3-4).

The world today is filled with violence and wars. People live in agonizing fear. But imagine a time when there will be no armaments or war—fear of violence will be removed from the Earth forever!

Disarmament is in the news almost daily. But do people really think they can disarm their way to a lasting peace? Men have been fighting and warring from the beginning of our history. Mankind does not know the way of peace—the way of God’s law. But they are about to learn it.

Do we really believe God? Not just believe in God—do we believe God? Do we truly understand that this Earth is about to become a glorious paradise?

The ambassadors of peace will never achieve peace today. But peace is coming. God is about to rebuke the nations. There shall never be war again. Get ready for a revolutionary change. God will usher in peace and prosperity forever.

Each family will have their own plot of land, and nobody will make them afraid. Only God could effect such a change and give such marvelous protection.

How different that world will be from the vile cities we see on Earth today. This will happen without fail—God cannot lie!

The “mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.” This vision is right out of God’s own mouth! The mouth of the omnipotent “Lord of hosts”—Lord of everything! All we need is the faith to believe God! But that kind of faith is so rare today.

Greatly Misunderstood Promise

Men ought to be rejoicing in this vision right now. “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” (Micah 4:5). This is one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible! It is also one of the most inspiring, if we understand it.

We will all “walk in the name of the Lord our God.” But what does it mean, “all people will walk in the name of his god”? It means just what it says. There will be other gods born into the God Family! Genesis 1 says the animals are born after the animal kind, but man was made in the likeness (physical features) and image (character) of God (verse 26).

This may sound like blasphemy to carnal men. But you were created to become members of the God Family! God explained this at the very beginning (see Psalm 17:15; Philippians 3:21).

Men are not animals! We were created to become Gods! (Write for our free booklet God Is a Family.)

The firstfruits are being discussed here (Micah 4:5). A little logic should help us see why God is calling us today. We can be on the highest level of God’s future government if we submit to Him today. We have the potential to be the wife of Christ—not on the child level in God’s Family! What a magnificent reward God gives the firstfruits—those called out today.

Micah prophesies about the worst time of suffering ever on this Earth. However, he still leaves us inspired, because he details this awesome vision of our reward and potential!

Be in Pain

“In that day” means this end time (verse 6). “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” (verse 8). The tower of the flock is to watch and warn Zion, God’s Church today, of any danger. It is like a watchtower.

The “first dominion” means the “first in time or place, in the first rank, in front, foremost” (see Gesenius’ Lexicon). This refers to God’s own Church, especially the ministers. They should be watching and warning their own people and the world of what is coming.

The Church has a fabulous future, but at this point it is crying out in anguish. Why? “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. 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” (verses 9-10). Repeatedly, God’s Church is referred to as a woman in travail. She is going into the Great Tribulation. There, God’s Laodicean Church will struggle to be born into God’s Family.

God is taunting the Church (the “daughter of Zion”) because of its foolishness. This is the same prophecy as in Jeremiah 30—God’s Church is like a “woman in travail” who is being delivered into captivity. God says, “Be in pain.” Micah gives the impression that there is virtually no chance to repent at this point! God says we must labor like a woman in travail; because when the Tribulation comes, 50 percent of the Laodiceans will lose their salvation! Our trials now are nothing like what people will see later in the Great Tribulation! We take our tribulation now, a little at a time. God does not want any of His people to go through the Great Tribulation. We must labor, if we want our salvation.

The Laodicean Church has no king or counselor (this is often applied to God—see Gesenius’ Lexicon). God’s government is not in His own Church, therefore He can’t rule His people!

There is not one leader in the Laodicean churches who leads the people to God! Not one. The Laodicean members are crying out in anguish because they followed the wrong leaders! That is their paralyzing penalty for loving deceit.

Their leadership has lost the clear vision of being born into God’s Family. The Laodiceans are taken prisoner by Babylon—the Holy Roman Empire. It is there that they must die in faith or lose their eternal lives! It is there that they must repent. God has to send the Laodiceans into Babylon physically because they have already gone there spiritually! Then they will know that there is no hope except in God.

“Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion” (verse 11). When the book of Micah is fully revealed, there are many nations against physical and spiritual Israel. Neither of them have heeded God’s warning message. That is the now to which Micah refers.

God is saying, “If you repent and follow me, then after the Tribulation I will use you to rule this world.” But He is talking about a Zion that is in trouble now. This does not mean the little Zion that will be taken to the “cave.” It is discussing the Zion which won’t be delivered. Just as in the book of Malachi, the minority is not discussed as much. It is the majority of the ministers that is causing most of God’s people to stumble at God’s law (Malachi 2:8).

When we know that the Laodicean era is prophesied for this end time, how can God’s people dare relax about God’s truth and prophecy?

“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. 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” (verses 12-13). Zion is told to “arise and thresh.” God threshes His people in the Tribulation. This message is not about destruction. God is separating the wheat from the chaff. He is trying and testing us so we can be born into His Family!

This world and God’s Church are being threshed to save them. We are all in a process of being born into God’s Family. God wants all of us to repent now, when we hear the warning. If we fail to do so, God takes us to the next stage. He scourges us in the Tribulation.

The Throne of David

Micah 5:1 says that the leaders of Israel will be personally insulted. But in the very next verse, we are reminded again of our great hope.

“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; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (verse 2). Bethlehem was the birthplace of Christ. David was the son of Jesse—an Ephrathite of Bethlehem (1 Samuel 17:12). This refers to Christ and David’s throne—the lineage of Christ and David. A ruler is to come from that line. He has been “from of old, from everlasting” (or the days of eternity). Obviously this refers to Christ. The Revised Standard Version states that Christ “shall come forth for me”—speaking of God the Father.

“And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:30-33). This is the same message. Christ is the “Son of the Highest” (or the Father). The Father outranks Christ, who will rule on the throne of David when He returns to this Earth.

Christ is the “Son of the Highest,” which again directs us to God’s Family. So this is a family throne. All of these terrifying problems coming upon this world will lead us into the God Family!

If the firstfruits—those called out before Christ’s Second Coming—submit to God, they get to share Christ’s throne (Revelation 3:21).

There is the Father, the Son (or Husband) and the Church (or Bride). Then those called after Christ’s return are on the children level. That is God’s Family.

If only men could see their potential now! Then we could prevent the unparalleled suffering of the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.

“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” (Micah 5:3). All of God’s people suffer trials. But the main focus here is on God’s Laodicean Church. The Laodiceans travail in the Tribulation until they have been “brought forth”—born into God’s Family! Man was created to be born into God’s Family. That is why we are here!

The word “children” should read sons. God’s ultimate goal for everything happening on this Earth is the birth of sons into His Family.

The rebellious Laodiceans will have to suffer indescribably in the Tribulation to qualify to be sons for all eternity! Because they become God’s enemy, 50 percent of them die forever.

Verse 2 discusses the everlasting, or the “days of eternity” as it says in the Hebrew. This is about living forever and ever! God is not that concerned about the temporary. He wants sons forever. The stakes are eternal!

The Laodiceans have forgotten who they are. They are “the remnant of His [Christ’s] brethren”—the spiritual brothers of Jesus Christ!

The Assyrian

In verse 6, God talks about the Assyrians, or modern-day Germany. God doesn’t talk here about the “ten toes,” or the European combine. He just says He will “deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.” This is why we are so concerned about Germany. They will come into our land and into our borders!

But where will the Church be? We had better have a cave we can run to, like Adullam, or Petra, or some place like that! God will deliver only the very elect of His Church from the Germans.

Should the Germans rejoice in all of this? God says to them, “Don’t you rejoice, because right after all this happens, I am going to smash you like you’ve never been smashed!” So none of these sinning people should be rejoicing!

Author and historian Walter Russell Meade puts it simply: “The Germans are back and ready to lead. There is no doubt that an awesome new European superpower is in the formation stage, forming around a reunified and confident Germany.” “This Germany,” wrote A.M. Rosenthal of the New York Times, “is destined to be the most powerful nation on Earth.”

Let the Hills Hear Your Voice

God is pleading with His people to listen. In Micah 6:1-4, God is talking to His end-time churches. He says we are His people; He brought us out of Egypt—this present evil society. This could not apply to the world!

God is saying, “Tell me what I have done wrong.” Where has God wronged us? What has He done to hurt us? He has brought us out of the evil ways of this world and shown us His precious truth. He is about to give us the very highest positions in the World Tomorrow!

We need to realize what a blessed people we are. There is nobody on this Earth blessed as we are! God truly pours out blessings on His people when they please Him. We ought to be thanking and praising God daily for what He has done for us!

“Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice” (Micah 6:1). This warning message must also go to the nations (“mountains” and “hills”). God’s very elect are commanded to “let the hills hear thy voice”! All people must hear what the Lord says. This is the word of the living God. It is for the highest and lowest places on this Earth—for everybody.

We are to “arise, contend,” or fight for God’s message and Work! That is where the Laodiceans have failed—they are fighting against God!

Micah fought with all his might to deliver God’s message. Nothing could stop him from doing God’s Work. Nothing!

True Repentance

“O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord” (verse 5). Shittim and Gilgal were the last camping stations before Israel entered the Promised Land. Moses was dead, and Israel had powerful enemies like Balak and Balaam.

God’s end-time Elijah—Herbert W. Armstrong—is dead, and we are just about to enter into the eternal Promised Land.

We are commanded to “remember” what we were taught before we got to Shittim and Gilgal in this end time (Malachi 3:16). We must remember if we are to get into the Kingdom of God. (Our free book Malachi’s Message discusses this subject in depth.)

Verses 6 and 7 of chapter 6 discuss physical sacrifices in the temple. But today God is addressing the subject of spiritual sacrifices in His Church. “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (verse 7). Physical sacrifices are not what God wants. Even if you were willing to give up your firstborn, that is not what He wants. He wants you to give up yourself and surrender yourself to Him!

Here is the kind of repentance God wants: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?“ (verse 8). This isn’t too much to ask. All that amounts to is true repentance. That is all God wants from us.

God wants us to love mercy, which, in Hebrew, means mercy with deeds. We must have mercy with deeds, so that we are not just saying, “Mercy, mercy—I just love that person, and I pray for that person here and those over there.” We must back up our mercy with deeds. We love the people in God’s lukewarm Church and want to embrace them. We do everything we can to help them because that is God’s way.

Micah says that God “has showed you” what is good. God has specifically shown only His Church in the end time. He did it through the end-time Elijah. We are without excuse. God is obviously speaking to His own people. God has shown us His truth. Now He expects faith with works!

What happens to those who fail to live as God asked of them? In verse 9, God says the rod of the Assyrians should be heeded because He has appointed it. In Isaiah 10:5, God relates that the Assyrians are the rod of His anger! Then in verse 24, God says, “O my people that dwellest in Zion [the Church], be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee ….” God is talking to the Church! He is saying, “Yes, Zion, the Assyrian will smite you with a rod!” Which Zion is that? It is the Laodicean Zion—those who become God’s enemy!

“For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people” (Micah 6:16). Omri was the father of Ahab, the most evil king in Israel. Both of these men led Israel to destruction. Ahab brought in the worship of Baal—even worse than the “statutes” of his father.

Has there been a father and son team today that has destroyed spiritual Israel by bringing into God’s own Church the worship of Baal?

Anybody who knows anything about God’s Church knows that such an evil team has inflicted indescribable and unparalleled destruction on God’s end-time Church! We must never forget that this book is very specific prophecy for today!

In Micah 7:4, God warns, “The day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh.” The Tribulation and Christ’s return are imminent! A true watchman warns the people that these things are coming. Ezekiel 3 and 33 talk only about a warning to be delivered by God’s people. No gospel message there, just a warning—because we have reached the time of the watchman. It is time to warn people about the sword and the end that is coming! A watchman sees what is happening in Germany and he knows God is raising up the Germans as the rod of His anger! God’s people must heed that warning—and then labor if their spiritual lives have become lax or if they have a Laodicean attitude.

God’s warning message has been preached for over 70 years—first by Herbert W. Armstrong, and now by the Philadelphia Church of God. These watchman prophecies are upon us!

Verse 4 concludes, “Now shall be their perplexity”—their confusion, acute agony and suffering! This is the short-term message of God’s true watchman. The Great Tribulation is extremely close. There is little time left to repent.

There is a great breakdown in loyalty with friends and family—the very closest relationships we have (verses 5-6). That also includes spiritual family, where there have been a multitude of betrayals.

The Millennium

In Micah 7:11-16, it again talks about the good news of the Millennium. Micah prophesies the great prosperity and increase of Israel. Even though the whole land must first be made desolate because of the great wickedness of its inhabitants, our merciful God promises a future restoration and prosperity for Israel. It will also be a time for learning tremendous lessons.

The Assyrians will shut their mouths when they see that God gave them all that power. They will understand that He opened the door by taking the Communists out of the way after 40 years. They will see that God made it all possible, and they were so dangerously arrogant! They’ll see that it was God doing those things, not the Assyrians, because the only real power is God. Then they’ll begin to repent and turn to God like everyone else.

In verse 17, God says He will really humble the Assyrians, and they will learn to fear Him. That’s what God wants us to do now—fear Him so we won’t have to be humbled by those terrible, humiliating, horrifying experiences in the near future!

Verse 18 says God will not retain His anger forever, and that He delights in being merciful. When we have done something sinful, He delights when we repent so He can show mercy, and forgive us, and forget our sins.

Micah’s name means “who is like unto God?” Soon everybody will see the abundant mercy and forgiveness of our loving God. Soon the whole world will see what Micah saw.

This is what man needs to understand about God. It is not physical miracles from God that we need to see. We need to understand the perfect character of our loving God. We get that understanding from this new revelation from Micah—not a physical miracle from God. If we wait to see most of the physical miracles, it will be too late to save our lives. We’ll be in the Great Tribulation. God showed a plethora of miracles to the people of ancient Israel, but they never understood or obeyed Him. And all the adults died in the wilderness.

We as God’s people now need all the help we can get to declare the revelation that God is giving us. Then you will be involved in the greatest miracle of all—helping people into the God Family! Help us to say “hear this” from the all-powerful God!

Verse 19 says that God “will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities.” That is a powerful statement we don’t want to miss. God will subdue our iniquities. It has nothing to do with our intelligence. That is what He is telling His people. He will subdue our iniquity; as long as we do our part, then He (living in us) will do battle with our sins, overcome them, and cast them “into the depths of the sea.”

In verse 20 of the Living Bible, Micah says to God, “You will bless us as you promised Jacob long ago. You will set your love upon us, as you promised our father Abraham.”

Micah is right. How great is the Eternal God who deserves our love, respect and awe! All of these tragic catastrophes will be used by God to help usher in the glorious World Tomorrow.

Who is a God like unto our God?