Victory Song of Salvation
[Read Micah 7:8–20]
There’s this haunting moment in the gospels that always stands out to me. It’s after Jesus’ death, and these two disciples are walking down the road talking about what just happened and they say, “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” (Luke 24:21, ESV). It’s this devastating line because they had hoped he was the answer to all of their problems and sorrows. They had hoped that he was going to come and fix everything. Yet, in that moment, they thought that all of their hopes and dreams had just been crushed and taken away. And you see these two guys walking down the road, with their heads hanging low in despair, wondering what the future holds for them.
What’s incredible is that, even though we don’t get a clear picture of this side from the Gospels, we can imagine that not everyone was despairing at this moment. There were also people who were celebrating and rejoicing in the death of Jesus. They had been working for this moment for a long time. They had crafted the perfect plan and strategy and carried it out to perfection. For them, this was the time to revel in what they just accomplished—to celebrate their victory.
God’s people in this morning's passage were experiencing similar feelings. However, their despair was the result of experiencing the punishment of God against their sins. God had repeatedly reminded them what he required of them, and they had repeatedly chosen to do whatever they wanted to do and walk away from Him. Now they were experiencing the consequences of those actions. If you can imagine what’s going on in their mind, you can imagine them saying things similar to those two guys walking down the road: “We had hoped this would be different. We had hoped that we would remain in the Promised Land forever—that we would continue to prosper and grow and that our descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Now look at us.”
It doesn’t matter who you are, you either have—or will eventually—find yourself in a situation like this. You will find yourself saying something like, “We had hoped this job was going to be the answer to our prayers, but it doesn’t look like that anymore” or “We had hoped this treatment was going to take away the pain or make life easier” or “We had hoped that this move or this house or this…” So, we’re all going to find ourselves in a situation like this at some point, the question is: Where do you turn in those moments? How do you respond when what you had hoped, didn’t come about?
The answer to that question can come in a variety of forms and it all depends on where you are in relationship with God. If you’ve found yourself in a position where you have turned your back on God and walked away from him where do you turn? You will turn to friends and family and most likely, you will turn to yourself and rely on yourself to figure things out. Some want to think that’s a comforting place to be, but it’s not as comforting as you would think, especially in that situation. Because when you’re in a position where what you had hoped didn’t come about, and you’re honest with yourself, you realize that you just figured out that you couldn’t get the job done. You were not able to fix the situation. So, why would that give you comfort for the second chance, or the third chance, or the fourth chance? So, it’s not as comforting or strengthening or hopeful as you may think. It’s actually a place where you end up spiraling deeper and deeper into despair.
What we see in this morning’s passage is how you can respond when you are in a relationship with God—when He is your God and you are His people. Then, things change and things change even if you’ve messed up along the way. Remember, everything we’re about to read in this morning’s passage is in the context of God’s people being disciplined for messing up and disobeying God. They’re being punished. They even admit it in this passage and say, “I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me.” (Micah 7:9, ESV). So, they are recognizing that they have messed up and sinned and they are owning up to their sin before God. They basically tell God that they understand that they are going to be punished for messing up and they are ready to accept that punishment.
Yet, also notice that they are not hopeless in the midst of this. There’s an incredible confidence coming from God’s people even in the midst of their punishment. They say, “Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.” (Micah 7:8, ESV). That takes some real confidence, doesn’t it. Their enemies who have been ravaging the country and the cities are rubbing it in. They are mocking them. They are saying, “Where is the LORD your God?” (Micah 7:10, ESV). Can’t your God save you? Where is he? Is he sleeping? Is he too weak? Look at you. And in the midst of that mocking and rejoicing, God’s people stand up and say, “Keep on mocking me, but know this, I may be down right now, but I’m not going to stay that way. I may be sitting in darkness and despair right now, but eventually I will be brought out into the light.” Do you see the kind of confidence and hope they had in the midst of utter despair and turmoil?
I want to make sure you realize where that hope and confidence come from. Because in some ways, that sounds like a line out of a movie, doesn’t it. You can imagine someone saying, “It doesn’t matter how much you knock me down and push me out, I will keep coming. You will never take me out.” Yet, the person saying that is relying on themselves and their own strength. That’s not where God’s people are getting their hope and confidence. Their hope and confidence come from their God. They say, “He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.” (Micah 7:9, ESV). They are able to stand up to their enemies with confidence and hope because they have put their hope and trust in God—a God who has proven himself over and over and over again. That’s why they can say that it doesn’t matter what things look like now, they have confidence that eventually, God will deliver them and bring about victory over their enemies.
That’s what it talked about in the New Testament when we read, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:7–10, ESV). How are they able to endure all of these things? Because of the surpassing power that belongs to God, not themselves.
And because they have this hope and confidence in God that he will deliver them, they cry out to him and ask him to deliver them. Don’t forget that they are being punished. They’ve messed up. But that doesn’t keep them from crying out to God and asking him to deliver them. They say, “Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land…As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things. The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might…” (Micah 7:14–16, ESV). In the midst of being punished, they ask God to deliver them like he did back in Egypt so that God would show his power and might to the nations—so that God would be exalted over their enemies. Not only are they asking to be delivered, but for God to lead them and they will follow him.
It’s such a beautiful picture because I know of so many people who say things like, “I’ve messed up to much to ask God to help” or “I’ve done too many bad things in my life to cry out to God” or “You don’t want to know all the things I’ve done that keep me from turning back to God.” The reality is that it doesn't matter. There is nothing—other than yourself—that can prevent you from turning to God, seeking to be delivered, and having this kind of confidence and hope.
Ultimately, this is what Easter Sunday is all about. On the one hand, it’s this reminder that God can bring tremendous victory out of what seems like a total defeat. That’s what everyone thought happened on the cross. They thought it was a total and complete defeat, that all of their hopes and dreams had disappeared. It looked like the enemies had won as they rejoiced and mocked God’s people.
Yet, as we celebrate today the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, it’s a reminder that what seemed like a total and complete defeat was actually a total and complete victory. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the beginning of his victory march over all of his enemies. It’s Jesus’ victory march over sin and death and Satan. It’s his reminder to all of these enemies that they better stop rejoicing and they better stop mocking because he has defeated them and is bringing about complete and total victory.
Because of Christ’s victory over sin and death and Satan, anyone who looks to Jesus Christ in faith will be forgiven, set free, receive eternal life, and enter into his family. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve failed. It doesn’t matter how bad you’ve been. It doesn’t even matter if right now you’re struggling with punishments from God himself. None of that prevents you from turning to him, crying out to him, and asking him to save you and deliver you. If you haven’t done that yet in your life, now would be a great time to do that. Give you life to him and be saved. Don’t let anything hold you back.
And when you do that, you’re not only forgiven of your sins, set free from your sins, and receive eternal life, but God looks at you and says, “You are mine and I am yours.” And because that is true in your life, you can now live with an amazing amount of hope and confidence. You can live with this confidence that God has your back and He will never leave you nor forsake you. That no matter how dark things get, or how bad things get, or how hopeless the situation seems, you can have confidence that it will not always be this way. God will eventually deliver you. You can have that level of confidence because you’ve watched God do it over and over again. You’ve watched God take the seemingly hopeless defeat of Jesus on the cross and turn it into complete victory and your own salvation. And because you’ve watched God do it before, and because you now trust him with your life, you know that he can and will do it again and again and again.
When you give your life to God and follow him, you also have this amazing privilege to worship him. That’s how this entire book ends. It ends worshiping God. It says, “Who is a God like you?” (Micah 7:18–20, ESV). The answer to this question is: there is no god like Him. Obviously, there is only one God and there are no others. However, even among the false gods we create and worship, there’s none like him. Not even close.
I mean, take a moment to think about all of the false gods of all of the false religions out there. Are any of them like our God? Have any of those gods been raised from the dead? Are there any of those gods who have taken a moment of complete defeat and turned into absolute victory? No.
Actually, more importantly, this passage tells you to look at all of the other false gods and see if any of them has shown their power and their glory and their might through the forgiveness of sins. It says, “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance?…He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:18-19, ESV). No other false god functions like this. No other god makes this the core of his being—the central point of history. No other god has sent his son to bear the weight and punishment of our sin so that he could cast our sins into the depths of the sea. No other god will actually cleanse you and forgive you like this. They can’t. There is no other god like this.
It goes on: “Who is a God like you…He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love…You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.” (Micah 7:18, 20ESV). Is there another god that we’ve created, or another god from a false religion that acts this way? No. All of the false gods are capricious and selfish and angry and bitter. But our God, the one true God, actually not only forgives and shows mercy, but he delights in steadfast love. He delights in sticking with his people through thick and thin. There is no other god like this. Our God showed steadfast love to deceitful Jacob and lying Abraham and to the many sinful fathers throughout the Old Testament. God actually wears his steadfast love and faithfulness as a badge of honor. There’s no other god like that. Every other false god will throw you out like a used up dish rag the moment they don’t need you. Our God—the one true God—will stick with you through the ups and downs and the highs and lows. He will never leave you nor forsake you. And ultimately will lead you to complete and total victory. There’s no other god like that.
As we remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ this morning, it is a clear reminder that there is only one true God: the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that reality forces every single person to make a decision. Who will you worship and follow? Will you give your life to a god that is not really a god—to something made up by mankind? Will you try to rely on yourself—making yourself a god—and live the rest of your life without any ultimate confidence or hope?
OR will you give your life to the one true God, who delights in sticking with his people through thick and thin, who bears your curse, forgives your debt, and throws your sins into the depths of the sea? Will you give your life to the God who has proven over and over and over again, that he can turn hopelessness and despairing situations into total and complete victory for those who love Him?