Minor Prophets LVIII: Slavery To The World

"In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." Micah 4:1-3

Micah 4:1-3 appears rather comparable with Isaiah 2:1-4. So how do we account for the similarities?

After we get past the superscription in Isaiah 2’s first verse these passages are virtually identical except for the juxtaposing of the word “peoples” in Micah and “nations” in Isaiah. So…one of two things is happening here (or both are happening). God is repeating Himself though two different prophets (which seems unlikely) or one of these prophets is borrowing from the other. It is possible though that God is repeating Himself by getting His prophet to borrow from the other. If a breach of copyright is taking place, based on context it is likely that Micah’s is the original and Isaiah was “lifting” from Micah. The passage in Micah is integral, In other words. Micah’s prophecy and coherence begins to fail without it whereas Isaiah’s usage appears as if it was adapted to fit the context of the early chapters of Isaiah.

We then come to Micah 4:5

A Christian’s security to "walk in the name of the LORD for ever and ever" is Jesus Christ. I walk in the name of Jesus Christ.

In Christ we “have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven”…”we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” So we can “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”(Hebrews 4:14-16 paraphrased)

I as a believer do not fulfill religious requirements through “works” but rather cling to the very deity that offers the promise of a relationship with him forever and ever. The reward of Heaven is not Heaven itself but the fact that we will have an intimate eternal relationship with the One that we were meant to be with all along. The world can have their idols and the things that they absolutely insist they need, I will rely on what the Lord provides and not desire more. I can take none of it with me anyway. The fads, the cultures and even the empires will crumble to dust but the Kingdom of God will go on forever. Those that love the world submit to the rule of the world-the slavery to the world....and this world is passing away. They put their trust in perishable things. Things that will be consumed by the moth and rust but I will put my trust in the infinitely trustworthy. The One that is immutable from vanishing point to vanishing point. I need only obey, do His will and stay the course until my last breath. As such I will run in a way in which to win the race.

Longman, Tremper, and David E. Garland. "The Future Exultation of Zion." The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Daniel-Malachi . Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 20062010. 522-524. Print.