God Gathers a Remnant

[Read Micah 2:12-13]

Last week I shared a brief story from the time when King Ahab and Jezebel reigned in Samaria. This period of time keeps coming up over and over again. Remember that scripture says that King Ahab did more to anger the Lord and all of the kings before him combined. This was known as one of—or THE—worst periods in the history of God’s people. Wickedness and idolatry were everywhere. 

As I was thinking about that period of history, I was reminded of the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel. In the midst of all this wickedness and idolatry, Elijah hosts a showdown on Mount Carmel. He tells them to gather all of the prophets of Baal and all of the prophets of Asherah to the mountain and they will see whose god is real. For those who know the story, they built two altars and decided whoever’s god lit the altar on fire was the true god. The prophets of Baal and Asherah spend all day cutting themselves and screaming out to their gods and dancing around to no avail. Elijah prays and fire comes down and consumes everything. It’s a great story, and I would recommend you go home and read it this afternoon. You can find it in 1 Kings 18. 

Here’s the part that stood out to me as I thought about that story. Do you remember how many of those false prophets there were? There were 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. That’s almost 1000 false prophets. To put that in perspective, the state of Wisconsin is almost 8 times larger than Israel. Think about how bad things were amongst God’s people, that there were over 1000 prophets for false gods in that small little area, then there were also plenty of false prophets that claimed to be from God. It was really rough, and it helps us understand why Elijah would say this, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” (1 Kings 19:10, ESV). Can you see where Elijah is coming from? Things have gotten so wild and crazy that it seems like he’s the only one left—the people of God have been destroyed. There’s nothing left.  Yet, God comes to him and says, “Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18, ESV). God reminds Elijah that he is not the only one left, there is a remnant. There’s always a remnant. 

That’s the massive reminder in this morning’s passage. We’re two chapters into the book of Micah and it’s been heavy with judgment. Samaria is going to be plowed up like a field. God is going to destroy those who are oppressing his people and remove them from the land. Things have gotten so wild in Israel that it seems like there’s no one left. It seems like the people of God have been destroyed. Then, all of a sudden, we read, “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob; I will gather the remnant of Israel…” (Micah 2:12, ESV). Even in the midst of all that wickedness we’ve seen throughout Samaria and Judah, there was still a faithful remnant. They hadn’t completely been destroyed. They hadn’t completely given themselves up to unfaithfulness. 

Now, this has even been hinted at in the last passage. I intentionally skipped over it because it connected with this week. Do you remember that line from last week that said, “Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot in the assembly of the LORD.” (Micah 2:5, ESV)? It was a word of judgment over those who were stealing land, letting them know that the land would ultimately be stolen from them and they would never return. However, it was also hinting at the fact that there would once again be a time when they could cast lots to redistribute the land amongst God’s faithful people—the faithful remnant. Now, he’s making that same point, but more explicitly. In the midst of all this unfaithfulness and wickedness, there remained a faithful remnant of God’s people throughout Israel. 

This is such a powerful reminder for us in the church today. It’s very easy to fall into two traps. One, being the trap of the Elijah syndrome, where you continually tell yourself, “I am the only one who is truly faithful. Everyone else is dishonoring God.” The reality is that is not true. There is always a faithful remnant. The second trap is to continually be anxious and fearful and on edge thinking the church is going to be destroyed. It’s not. The church has weathered storms way worse than the one we’re going through right now. The church will never be destroyed. That doesn’t mean we sit back and do nothing—that would be foolish and unfaithful. However, it does mean that we can live and act and serve with confidence that there will always be a faithful remnant of God’s people and the church will never be destroyed. 

What’s interesting is the image God gives of his people at the time: “I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men.” (Micah 2:12, ESV). He’s going to gather his sheep back together like sheep in a pasture or in a sheep pen. The image is that the sheep have been scattered—which is why they all feel like they are alone, or the only ones left. 

Do you know why they were scattered? We’re told why the sheep were scattered in various places throughout scripture. They were scattered by false teachers and false prophets. We saw this in the Gospel of John where Jesus said, “A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” (John 10:5, ESV). The true sheep have heard the voices of robbers and thieves and strangers and have fled—they’ve been scattered on the hill tops. We’re given this imagery in Ezekiel 34 as well: “So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.” (Ezekiel 34:5–6, ESV). This is the image of the remnant during this time. 

So God says, “I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men.” (Micah 2:12, ESV). He’s going to round them all up together in one place. It’s going to be a little chaotic, right? I’m not sure how many of you have ever been part of a cattle drive before, or rounded up cows into a pen, but it’s chaos. There’s mooing and bellowing galore. Even though it’s what’s best for them, they don’t want to be there. It’s chaos. It’s a noisy multitude. 

Yet, what’s really beautiful about what God says here is that this is certainly going to happen. You can see it a little in the English translation, but it’s very clear in the Hebrew. God says “I will surely…I will…I will…” (Micah 2:12, ESV). This is going to happen. They can be absolutely, completely certain that God is going to come and gather his scattered flock together from the hills and the mountains, that he’s going to protect them from the thieves and the robbers and the wild beasts. It WILL happen. No doubt. 

I’ve already recommended that you read 1 Kings 18 this afternoon, I will also recommend you read Ezekiel 34 this afternoon. Right after God describes his flock as scattered on the hillsides he says, “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.” (Ezekiel 34:15–16, ESV). Isn’t that a beautiful picture? God will come and with absolute certainty he will seek out and gather his faithful remnant in the midst of a wicked and crooked generation. He will gather them, strengthen them, bind up their wounds, and feed them. The church—the flock of God—will never be destroyed. 

Do you know how God will gather his flock back together from the hillsides? Or how God will strengthen his sheep and bind up their wounds and feed them? There is a sense in which we can imagine the parable of the 1 and the 99, right? We can picture God seeking the hills and valleys for his lost sheep. However, there's another image given as to how God will gather his flock. Jesus said, “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out…And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:2-3, 16, ESV). God gathers his sheep through his word. God strengthens his sheep and binds them up and feeds them through his word. 

It’s such a powerful thing to realize that it’s false teaching that scatters the sheep and sends them running to the hillsides and valleys, but it’s the true preaching of the word of God that gathers his sheep. When God’s word is preached, and people hear God speaking through his word, his true sheep recognize his voice and come running from the hillsides and the valleys. They come running because they recognize his voice and want to follow him. 

Then, in the midst of all this beautiful imagery of a shepherd and his sheep the image changes. Actually, the image begins to change with the phrase “noisy multitude.” That is referring to a bunch of sheep in a sheep pen bleating like crazy, but there are undertones here of a military prepared for battle. So, the image gradually shifts from a shepherd gathering his flock into a pen, to a general—or king—gathering his troops for battle. In reality, this doesn’t have to be different images. The image is of God as a Shepherd, Warrior, King. Does that remind you of anyone famous in the Old Testament? David, right? David was a shepherd, warrior, king who gives us a glimpse into the reality of the God he loved. 

It’s also really powerful to recognize how God is described in this passage. The ESV begins by saying, “He who opens the breach…” (Micah 2:13, ESV) but I would prefer that to be translated a bit differently. It’s actually the translation of one Hebrew word. I would prefer it to say, “The Breacher goes up before them.”

Here’s why I would prefer that. I’ve mentioned how I love to learn about military history. Lately, I’ve been listening to a bunch of stories from Navy Seals. Guess what one of the primary roles is called in a Navy Seal platoon? A Breacher. When a platoon of Navy Seals is getting ready to enter a room or facility, the Breacher places explosives on the door to literally blow it off its hinges so that they can enter the room as quickly and effectively as possible. Some of these breachers are kinda crazy and talk about putting so much explosive on the door that it blows it to the other side of the room. 

Now with that image in mind, listen to the way God is described: “He who opens the breach goes up before them; they break through and pass the gate, going out by it.” (Micah 2:13, ESV). God is coming for his people and nothing is going to get in his way. Of course they didn't have explosives to blow up the gate—it was more like a battering ram—but if anything gets in his way, he’s going to blow the doors off the thing to get his people out of that place. 

Notice that God is breaching them out of the gates, not into the gates. This connects with some of the historical connections to this event. Sennacherib would eventually surround Jerusalem and place a siege on the city. He bragged that he had locked them up in the city like a bird in a cage. They were trapped. Read what God does in that moment, “And the LORD sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land…So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies, and he provided for them on every side.” (2 Chronicles 32:21–22, ESV). God knocked the gates off so that his people were no longer trapped like birds in the city. 

I want to make sure we realize this applies even beyond this event in Jerusalem. God continues to be a breacher for his people. I want to look at something Jesus said that is often misunderstood a little. Jesus said this, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18, ESV). Now, rightly, many have looked to this passage as a reminder of what I said earlier in this sermon—the church will never die, there will always be a remnant. Yet, many people—myself included for a while—have looked at this passage as if hell is coming down and attacking God’s people, but they will withstand and remain. That’s not the image, though, is it? Gates do not attack. Gates are attacked. So, the image is that Christ will continue to build his church and this faithful remnant will continue to be led by a God who is a breacher, who will continue until the gates of hell are knocked off their hinges and overcome. The Gates of Hell will not prevail but we serve and worship a God who blows gates off their hinges. It’s powerful. 

Then we get this beautiful image: “Their king passes on before them, the LORD at their head.” (Micah 2:13, ESV). God is leading the way out of the trouble, through the siege, through the gates of hell. He’s out front blowing gates off their hinges and removing obstacles as he leads his people out from trial and tribulation AND toward victory. 

Now, I don’t know about you, but as I picture this in my mind, I am reminded of a portion of the Lord of the Rings movie. There’s this moment when this little, faithful remnant of soldiers are standing at the Black Gate. All they can see is this massive army of Orcs that seems impossible to overcome. In the midst of that, King Aragorn looks back at his faithful army, says “For Frodo!”, then goes running into the battle at the gate, leading his faithful remnant into battle against an overwhelming army. Yet, they end up winning. The gates of Mordor could not stand against them.

For us, this is talking about our true Shepherd, Warrior, King Jesus. Ultimately, he is the one who gathers his sheep from the ends of the earth with his voice. Ultimately, he is the one who conquered death and hell and Satan through his life, death, and resurrection. Ultimately, Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus is the one who is running in front of us, leading his faithful remnant into battle—a battle that has already been won. That’s why Paul says this, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” (2 Corinthians 2:14, ESV). 

I think this is such an important reminder for us, especially in a time when we look around and see so much corruption and wickedness, or when we look around and we see churches emptying out right and left. We can be tempted in a variety of directions. We can be tempted to fall into the Elijah syndrome, curling up in a ball, crying out to God, “Why am I the only faithful one left?” We can be tempted to try to grasp power wherever we can, hoping that we can bolster our troops, and regain territory. We can be tempted to throw our hands in the air and say, “Well, there’s nothing I can do about this.” Yet, this passage reminds us that none of those options are right. We serve and worship Jesus Christ who never leaves nor forsakes his people. We serve and worship Jesus Christ who will always keep a remnant for himself, and will gather that remnant even when it’s been scattered on the hillsides. We serve and worship Jesus Christ who will not let anything stand in the way of protecting his people and leading them to where He wants them to go. And we serve Jesus Christ who can take a small, faithful remnant and charge the gates of hell and WIN. 

That means we don’t try to grab hold of power and we don’t rub our hands in worry and we don’t throw our hands up in despair. Rather, we keep our eyes on Christ, keep listening to his voice, keep following him wherever he leads us, and continue being faithful. Through that, He will lead us and will knock the gates of hell off their hinges.