True
Safety
Micah 5:10 "And it shall come to pass in
that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy
horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy
thy chariots:
11 And I will cut
off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy
strong holds:
12 And I will cut
off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt
have no more soothsayers:”
1. Horses and Chariots
2. Cities and
Strongholds
3. Witches and Soothsayers
1. Horses and Chariots
Verse ten: “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots:”
In Deuteronomy chapter seventeen, is a command to Israel’s kings … to “not multiply horses” to themselves.
“But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.” [Deuteronomy 17:16]
Now, Egypt is a type of the World [system]. Christian, beware of the World!
Centuries later, Israel’s king [David] played around with this thing. [He flirted with this sin.] Look at Second Samuel chapter eight: “And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots.” [2 Samuel 8:4]
David here, starts the practice of multiplying horses to himself, and from here, it all starts to go down-hill. [It is the little foxes that spoil the vine. “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” Song of Songs 2:15]
Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with a horse . In fact, a horse is a beautiful creature of great strength. What a beautiful thing is a white horse!
Now, look at this horse in the book of Revelation! “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.” [Revelation 19:11]
So then, having read about that “white horse”, why would God “cut off” the horses out of the land of Judah here the book of Micah? There is a reason.
Where is your faith? Is it in man? Is it in the strength of a horse, or is it in God?
Whenever we put our trust into something else, other than God, we will end up going down a slippery slope to our own destruction.
Our true strength is not to be measured in the might of numbers, nor in our implements of warfare, nor is it to be measured in the strength of the muscles of the human body.
Furthermore, God is not impressed with
“the strength of the horse”, nor is God
impressed with “the legs of man”.
Proof text, you say? Well, how is this one in
Psalm 147? See verse ten: “He
delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he
taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.”
[Psalm 147:10]
What does God want? What God
wants … is for us to fear Him … to put our trust in
Him. Now, look at the next verse [verse eleven]:
“The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in
those that hope in his mercy.” [Psalm 147:11]
So though man may utilize the strength of the horse in the day of battle, man’s true strength is his fear of God.
Now, this is the true place of safety. In fact, is not this what the BOOK tells us in Proverbs chapter twenty-one, verse thirty-one?: “The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord.” [Proverbs 21:31]
SAFETY IS OF THE LORD!
If Judah had only trusted in God rather than choosing to trust in the carnal weapons of the flesh, then God would have given them the victory over any army coming against them.
It is too bad that they did not let sink into their hearts the power of God to control the horses and the chariots of the enemy, which was revealed to them in the book of Psalms. It was there right in front of them … in Psalm seventy-six, verse six: “At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.” [Psalm 76:6]
Now hear this! When you have God with you, the whole world can be against you, and you will still win. Amen!
If Israel had obeyed God [doing what God commanded them], then the promise made to them … in Leviticus chapter twenty-six would have come true. Read verse eight: “And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.” [Leviticus 26:8]
Now, the Spirit of God is asking you and me a question here: “How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?” [Deuteronomy 32:30]
Do you see the answer? It is the Rock! With the Rock, you will win against all odds. Amen!
Now, scan forward in time. In the Tribulation, Israel [and the nations of this world] will ultimately see whose strength really matters in the end.
Look with me in the book of Zechariah chapter nine in verses nine and ten: “And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.” [Zechariah 9:10, 11]
2. Cities and Strongholds
Verse eleven: “And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds:”
Everything man trusts in … has to be removed. It is an impediment! The judgment is this. Judah was to have its cities “cut off” the land, and destroyed.
Now, there is something about cities that draws people to them, [like the moth is drawn to the light]. Cities seemingly always have had something very attractive and very alluring to offer to all mankind. In fact, one might say, that there has been this subtle tendency within the hearts of men … to congregate in the cities of their own making.
Why is this so? It is because people are enamored with the works of their own hands. They love to behold and take in with eyes and ears the sight and the sounds of their city.
Now, it has been like this ever since the building of the tower of Babel. I call it the “spirit of Babel” which thing is rooted in the nature of all men. Now, see this with me Genesis chapter eleven, verse four: “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” [Gen 11:4]
The cities must be “cut off”.
The time was come to Israel, for all her cities, and for all their “strong holds” to go.
It will this way in the time of Jacobs Trouble, also.
The remnant of Israel will be thoroughly gleaned by the time of the end of the Great Tribulation. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.” [Jeremiah 6:9]
What a man idolizes must be “cut off” before man will come to God.
3. Witches and Soothsayers
Verse twelve: “And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:”
Note: God should not have had to “cut off” the witches in the land.
It is the people of Israel that should have been policing this thing all along. God had given them the very clear instructions of how to handle the witches that were found in the land. In Exodus chapter twenty-two, verse eighteen, which thing is in the Law of God, we a have this command: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” [Exodus 22:18]
Now, it cannot be any clearer than that. They were to get rid of them, and “cut off” the witches from the land.
Now, Deuteronomy chapter eighteen, verse eighteen adds this: “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.” [Deuteronomy 18:10]
Now, to see how things came together for one Gentile city … in a volatile mix of witches and men with their horses and their chariots, all living together in a bloody city [Nineveh], open your Bible to Nahum chapter three, verses one thru four and see this:
“Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.” [Nahum 3:1-4]
Now, for an old saying: What is good for the goose … is good for the Gander. God is no respecter of persons. What needs to be “cut off” by God … will get “cut off”. Whether it is the Gentiles, or God’s people, as here for Judah in our text, God will bring judgment. Amen
We need to learn our lesson:
SAFETY IS OF THE LORD!