Judges, Politicians, and Televangelists! Oh My!

Ancient Judah had a corruption problem. In Micah 3:9-12 (read it), Judah's leaders are charged with despising justice, empowering themselves through violence, and lying for money. In all this, it was the poor who were most oppressed. Because of their corruption, Jerusalem was going to fall, the Temple was going to be overgrown with weeds, and the nations would bring disaster upon Judah.  Still, Judah's leaders were complacent. They said, "Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us." They were beyond punishment.

Similarly, we have judges and politicians today who corrupt justice, empower themselves through malicious practices, and lie to the people. Religiously, we have televangelists who will "prophecy" about good fortunes coming to people as long as their weekly tithe comes in. We know corruption when we see it, but railing against corruption will not end it. Sometimes, only telling what we are against can do more damage to the image of Christianity than to corrupt leaders who seem to be beyond punishment. 

In Micah 4:1-5(read it)(Isaiah 2:2-4 says the same thing), Judah is given an actual solution. It is the coming Kingdom of God. Then YHWH will arbitrate justice. Nations will no longer prepare for war, and the nations will flow into Jerusalem to learn of YHWH. Every person will have drink and food (the vine and the fig). There will be no reason to fear, because there is no danger. 

But Jeff, aren't we already part of God's Kingdom? Yes we are. We are part of the already/not yet Kingdom of God. While the New Heaven and New Earth have not come, we are still citizen's of God's Kingdom. As citizens of his Kingdom, our job isn't to sit, wait, and let him arbitrate (hehe). Our job isn't to rail against our leaders. We're told to respect authority and not slander our leaders because it is God himself who set them up (Romans 13:1-7). We are God's imagers (representatives) on Earth. Our job (at least one of them) is to represent his Kingdom here on earth. 

If people are to look to Jerusalem to learn of God, people should be able to look to us and learn of God as well. Our behavior should show his kingdom, and we should be teaching others about it. 

Rather than railing against everything and everyone we don't like, we should be peacemakers (Matt 5:9). Try to find common ground with those you disagree with and promote peace instead of war. 

If everyone has their own vine and fig tree in God's Kingdom, meaning food and drink are taken care of. We should try to make that a reality today. We should develop strategies to deal with poverty and hunger. 

Ultimately, Micah offers hope. God will provide. His Kingdom is coming. He will arbitrate justice, provide the vine and fig, end all wars, and there will be no reason to fear. Until then, we offer hope to an otherwise hopeless world.