Does the law = sin. Romans 7:7-25

We ended our last study on the premise that, as the NASB put it, we were released from the Law.

Romans 7:6 NLT But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

Is that a true statement? Well, yes and No.

Yes, because we were released from the bondage associated with the law. How that works is wrapped up in Jesus' death and resurrection, for through His death and resurrection He paid the price for our redemption and all sins were forgiven humankind. (Easy, now, as there seems to be a bit of catch to this hope of automatic forgiveness. This forgiveness, though very real, is a gift, and like any gift must be received.) The question is, have you received that gift of life in Jesus Christ?


The NO side of this answer comes out of several things.

1. Jesus himself told us that the law would NOT pass away until all had been fulfilled, and only then would we be done with it. [Since some insist on references as proof, then you can look at Matthew 5:18; Mark 13:31; Luke 16:17.]

When will the law be fulfilled? You could assume that this would happen when Jesus comes back as the warring Messiah Israel longs for. It is at this point that He will shut the mouth of His enemies, and takes His throne, once again, to reign forever. We see this triumphant return at the end of God's wrath, (the period we love to call – The Great Tribulation,) as we transition into the millennial reign. A large portion of this descriptive is found in Revelation 19 verses 11-21. But there are other examples as well.

Jeremiah 3:17 NASB "At that time they will call Jerusalem 'The Throne of the LORD,' and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

Ezekiel 37:25-28 NASB "They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons' sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever. (26) "I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. (27) "My dwelling place also will be with them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. (28) "And the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel when My sanctuary is in their midst forever."'"

2. The “law” is now written upon our hearts.
Romans 2:14-16 NASB For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, (15) in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, (16) on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

Yes, I am very much aware the these are Gentiles that Paul is speaking of, and, the assumption is that they are godless, because they are NOT of our assemblies, nor have they done the religious things necessary to be acclaimed Christians.

Certainly, you can see that an aspect of the paragraph demonstrates that the “law” bears them witness before God on the day of judgment. Now, if God can write His law upon the hearts of those outside of standardized religion, then He is highly capable of writing His law deliberately upon those He calls His own.

Jeremiah 31:33 KJV But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

2 Corinthians 3:3-8 NLT "Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. (4) We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. (5) It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. (6) He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life. (7) The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. (8) Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life?"
There is one other idea I need to mention.

3. For those hoping that this all bypasses the “law” and allows them to do whatever they want. Doing whatever you want here on earth can get you killed, and for many, we have a legal system to deal with those who break the laws of man.

Notwithstanding, the things you do here on earth have little to do with the end result of a life spent with the Father in the future, although there are those that will tell you that you can jeopardize God's love for you. (To think that God would ever turn His back on you is broken human thinking and needs to be thrown out with the trash.)

So, even though we are free from the bondage of the law through Jesus, there is something that maybe even more constraining, and that is that we are considered bondservants to Jesus. You want that in plain English? A bondservant is a polite way of saying, slave.

Ask yourself, what rights do slaves have? In truth, NONE, however, we are voluntary slaves (bondservants) and have the FREE WILL to destroy the body God gave us.

So, this life we live in Christ is one of choice. Do we, as the thief on the cross, choose to turn to the only one who truly loves us, and in a sense, bond ourselves in marriage; or, do we submit as slaves in obedience? For me, the reciprocity of a marital relationship wins out. In human terms, the marriage relationship is not one where we are always lying in fields of clover without a care in the world; no, there are days when the sound of your spouse's voice grates on your last nerve. Is it that way with the Father? Even if He calls me a moron, which He sometimes does, I still know that I am loved because we have a relationship based upon respect. (It is not because I respect Him that He loves me, but I have learned what His character and nature are, and out of that I have learned that He can be trusted.

What if the alternative is douleuō/slavery?
A friend of mine, because of abuses, could not handle the thought of slavery; he could accept Paul's words if he could see his role as one of a bondservant, simply because the bondservant, having been treated with respect, longs to stay in the relationship.

“But now we have been released from the law,” but, as C. S. Lewis says, "there is no easy Christianity."

The NASB opens the next section as:

The Law and Sin

Heres a standardized version to start us off.
(Romans 7:7 KJV)  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. (8)  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. (9)  For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. (10)  And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. (11)  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

If the law, as Paul puts it, caused or causes so much grief, then is it bad, or worse yet, is the law SIN? Eugene Peterson put it this way, “then it's no better than sin itself.” But you instinctively know this is not a true assumption because SIN came into the world at a time when there was no law as we understand it.

Now hold up a minute and think about how that sin entered into the world.

Did Adam take a bite of the fruit before or after sin?
Sin was already active and waiting for him. If you want to get legalistic there was a law, in the form of a commandment – do not eat the fruit of that tree. Since sin is merely missing the mark, the mark for Adam was to obey that one commandment, which he chose not to obey. The commandment to obey was, in reality, a law.

When we read this epic story of humanity's insertion into the earth and their fall, we assume the entire transaction took place in five minutes, after all, that's how long it took my Sunday School teacher to tell the story while using the flannel board cutouts. The difficulty is, we don't have any solid scriptural evidence that leads us to that conclusion. Since the Hebrew word eon is contingent upon other words to define its time frame; and, there was NO clock or calendar, then the time frame between the commandment to not eat the fruit of that ONE tree and the damage done could have been a billion years. (Yeah, I know, that gives many of you grief, as you think the entirety of creation until this moment in time is only about 10,000 years. My word to you, your God is too small.)

Let's analyze what Paul said in verse seven.

“on the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law;” NASB

Are you trying to tell me, that Saul the pharisee did not realize that having people, like Stephen, killed by stoning, was missing the mark? Ah, but for Saul, Stephen, a blasphemer according to "the law/Torah," was deserving of stoning.

Alright, then, let's back up in time to a time when the toddler Saul, first told his mommy NO. This is something that every child does, but where does that rebellion come from? It's there, already embedded, thanks to Adam.

Does a toddler understand that an outright refusal, under reasonable conditions, is inappropriate? They may not at first understand, but it is something they soon learn based on, if nothing else, a commandment (a parental law,) with appropriate enforcement. Should the child have functional mental capacity, then in a short course of time, they come to understand that there are repercussions for open, and antagonistic disobedience.

One of my grandsons was born with a cancerous brain tumor and had to have it removed on his third day of life. He is now 16, praise God. But between the ages of three and four, he did not just say no, he would slap you in the face. The common understanding amongst the family was that his brain functions had taken a tremendous beating from the tumor, the surgery, and then the chemotherapy treatments, and he was not thinking clearly, as a healthy child might. Still, the behavior had to be checked, and quickly.

So when Paul says I would not have come to know sin except through the Law, perhaps he is saying, having been taught that there was a law as a young child, I came to understand that going outside the parameters of the Law, was to miss the mark (sin.)

The Phillips translation reads: “sin in me, finding in the commandment an opportunity to express itself, stimulated all my desires.”

The King James Version of Paul's statement reads like this "I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."

Warren Wiersbe's commentary on Romans, along with many other translations, seems to focus on the word covetousness. The word covet as used in the NASB version of Romans 7:7 is epithumeō and means to set the heart upon, or, to long for. That can mean to long for anything which is not yours. I, too, have that problem when a really nice car or truck goes by me.

In Romans 7:8, the word applied is coveting. It's a variation from the usage of the word covet that we see in verse seven, but not too much. Coveting is the Greek word epithumia and means a longing, especially for what is forbidden. For some, "lust" is a motivation to steal, while for others, it is to take the sexuality of a woman without her permission.

Can something be prohibited without a commandment or instruction? I would have to say no because God seems to have covered all His bases. This is evidenced in Paul's next assertion, for Paul himself said the law of God is written on some people's hearts. Why then do they take what is not theirs, and what excuse do they use?

Is it remotely possible that Saul, before he became known as Paul, as a young man, did not know Law and the ramifications? Hardly, he was a pharisee and ran with the best of them. The process of learning who you were and what was expected of you began early. These kids did not go to regular school, as many of us did, they went to synagogue school, or they were taught at home. But know this, the Torah was central to their education. So, it is safe to assume that Saul, much like what we saw in Jesus when at the age of 12, they found Him in the temple discussing the scriptures with the temple elders, would have been adept at scripture at an early age.

Romans 7:8 KJV “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.”

I used the KJV version and it threw us a curveball because it used the word concupiscence - a word that NO ONE uses. It is still the word epithumia and means a longing (especially for what is forbidden).

“But sin took the opportunity provided by this commandment and made me have all kinds of wrong desires. Clearly, without laws sin is dead.” (Romans 7:8 God's Word)

So the law/commandment evoked all kinds of wrong desires. Apparently, most of which centered around fulfilling one's desires, whether it be for something the other person had or the attractiveness of a woman.

Again Paul's words.
For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; (Romans 2:12 NASB)

So Paul can say, “for apart from the Law sin is dead.” Because, without the law, it would seem that there is no judgment, but you know that is not true, as they, the Gentiles outside of Christ, are judged through Jesus Christ. Fortunately, Christ paid for everyone's debt on the cross.

“For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.” (Romans 2:14-16 NASB)

Romans 7:9 Moffatt NT “I lived at one time without law myself, but when the command came home to me, sin sprang to life and I died;”

The NLT says, “the power of sin came to life.” Maybe that is another of saying, after the Law came, the party was over.

Romans 7:10 MSG “The very command that was supposed to guide me into life was cleverly used to trip me up, throwing me headlong.”

Another version: “…The commandment that was intended to bring me life was found to be bringing me death!” (CJB)

So, I should be able to look at what God did to the people Moses brought out of Egypt, as something that was supposed to guide them into life. I cannot imagine the law having any other impact upon them either.

Consider something: without the law, Israel had NO constraints.
Deeming Moses to be dead, they had Aaron make them the Moloch idol upon which they could go back to roasting their children to this “unknown” god. So the law then came to them, and sin sprang to life, and what happened, many of them died as well.

Romans 7:11 MSG “So sin was plenty alive, and I was stone dead.”

"Having one's mind controlled by the old nature is death, but having one's mind controlled by the Spirit is life and shalom." (Romans 8:6 CJB)

• A mind
• Controlled by the old nature
• Is death.
• But somehow changing one's mind to be controlled by the Spirit (This is the pneuma - the breath of God, or, as we know it, the Holy Spirit of God,) is life and peace.

How do you do that? We renew our minds by putting God's Word into our hearts. Isn't that nice, I used a religious phrase on you, "just put God's Word into your heart." Seriously?
Let me explain, as I have been preparing so that I can convey the obscure things Paul has been saying, I, too, have been absorbing these Words. In a sense, I have been putting them into my heart. Just days ago, I walked through these same words I am giving you, with a good friend of mine. We both had to admit that these Words, which are alive, are changing us, and we could both see the changes and identified them.

Romans 7:12 NIV “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.”
Nothing conveys a theme better than the Word, so let's look at what the Psalmist wrote.

For the word of the LORD is upright, And all His work is done in faithfulness. (Psalms 33:4 NASB)

Once again, Paul's apologetic/common sense argument comes into play.
Romans 7:13 CJB “Then did something good become for me the source of death? Heaven forbid! Rather, it was sin working death in me through something good, so that sin might be clearly exposed as sin, so that sin through the commandment might come to be experienced as sinful beyond measure.”

“Then did something good become for me the source of death?” I know, I have talked about this a lot recently, but you need to understand something. These people that God brought out of Egypt were effectively Egyptians, and followed after Egyptian god; Moloch is one of them. They had to be retrained and constrained. I can guarantee you that they cried like babies.

Romans 7:14 CJB For we know that the Torah is of the Spirit; but as for me, I am bound to the old nature, sold to sin as a slave.

By the way, what Paul wrote here is not defeatist, it is an act of aggressiveness, as you now recognize who and what the enemy looks like. No, I am not necessarily the enemy, but it sure is something that lives with me every day. Now, if we could grasp the idea, that we are in Christ, and that our relationship with Him is comparable to being baptized into His death, then we too are dead to sin, just as He is. (There is so much more than this, but I am trying not to lose you.)

In Celebrate Recovery, a spin-off of AA, you introduce yourself as, insert your name here _, a grateful believer in Jesus Christ, recovering from _ insert your problem here_. Mine happened to be rage.
The Apostle Paul can easily be visualized as standing before the crowd and saying,
Good evening. My name is Paul, a grateful believer in Jesus Christ,
and I am a recovering Pharisee, and a slave to sin.

Paul next talks about his own struggle. Romans 7:15 CJB I don't understand my own behavior—I don't do what I want to do; instead, I do the very thing I hate!

My grandparents had all kinds of sayings, one of them was “landsakes.” I honestly don't know what that means. I can speculate to no avail, but what I do know, is that when one of them said it, you knew they were not particularly thrilled with whatever you did. I can just hear Paul talking to himself as he says, “well for landsakes,” I don't understand my own behavior.

If God lives in you, then there is a driving force inside you, called the Holy Spirit, telling you, you don't need to be doing that!

In what seems like a struggle with the law, there comes this. 
Romans 7:16 NLT “But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.”

A general, and safe assumption, is that everything that has been said, has been stated on a previous occurrence. This was not done to bore you, it was done because we forget, and, the most important aspect, all prophecy, to the Jewish mind, is born from patterns. Repetition helps to establish God's prophetic word. Note David's words.

Psalms 119:127-128 NASB (127) Therefore I love Your commandments Above gold, yes, above fine gold. (128) Therefore I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything, I hate every false way.
So, the law is good.

Romans 7:17 MSG “But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help!”

At some point in my readings, I saw this phrase, the law, above anything else, showed us that we need God's grace. In recovery, one of the defining moments is when you realize that you are out of control and that you cannot do this by yourself. Our Christian walk is not so different, and that is why God sent the Holy Spirit. Oh sure, I, and you, need other believers to help us along the way, but of a kindred spirit and a sane mind. Why? Because we are broken, and our only hope of getting through this comes through Jesus Christ. The following is Romans 7:18-24 from Eugene Peterson's Message.

I realize that I don't have what it takes. 

I can will it, but I can't do it. 

I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; 

I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. 

My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. 

Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. 

It happens so regularly that it's predictable. 

The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. 

I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. 

Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. 

I've tried everything and nothing helps. 

I'm at the end of my rope. 

Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question? 

(Romans 7:18-24 MSG)

I will admit at this point, that I am in tears because I have felt this way. Thank God I know what the next verse says.

The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. 

He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. 

(Romans 7:25 MSG)

Enough said.

My people behave like an enemy. Micah 2:8-12.

Once again, as I read through these passages, I find myself struggling to keep a clear picture of who is being addressed.

As you can see, in Micah 2:6, we have Micah speaking against those who want him to shut his mouth, as they say, “Enough of your preaching!”

Micah 2:6-7 CEV: "Enough of your preaching!" That's what you tell me."We won't be disgraced, so stop preaching!"  (7) Descendants of Jacob, is it right for you to claim that the LORD did what he did because he was angry? Doesn't he always bless those who do right?

Israel asserts, “We won't be disgraced.” To call the voices speaking against Micah Israel is a broad assumption but a fairly logical one. Why?

• Based upon Micah 2:1,2, we know that the word Micah speaks applies to both sides of the divided kingdom – Israel and Judah; he is talking to those who have the power to rob and defraud the people of their land and therefore their inheritance. And God is never speaking this way to everyone, although, such as in the case of humankind, all suffered the effects of Adam's treasonous act - something we like to call sin – something that is so much easier to understand if you consider the “sin” a genetic modification that impacted ALL peoples since that day.

(Seeing as the Assyrians and Babylonians will soon take everyone captive or kill them, inheritance is somewhat of a moot point; unless there is that one person that remembers that God promised His people the land of Canaan. As long as someone is keeping records in their head there is the probability that land could be reclaimed if that opportunity ever arose again; and apparently, it did. Looking to a time well over 2700 years later this becomes important again, as the words of Micah 2: 4,5 indicate that there will be no left that could reestablish inheritance claims.)

Micah 2:5 NASB: "Therefore you will have no one stretching a measuring line For you by lot in the assembly of the LORD."

•  Israel, for the longest time, was ruled by judges. Samson and Gideon are two that come quickly to mind. But Israel cried out; we want a king like the nations around us have, and so their first king was Saul. How quickly that went sour on them, and God warned them that it would. By the time Micah is speaking out against what is going on, it feels more like some twisted struggle between a monarchical, aristocratic, and oligarchic system. How is that possible? Well, consider that in Jesus' day, although the Romans seemed to have the final say, who did Pontius Pilate turn to for the last word on the fate of Jesus? The Jewish council, which itself was a blend of oligarchic and aristocratic leadership.
• The kings, for the most part, followed God in name only, and the relatively wealthy Jewish council were the voices that spoke for the people, whether they wanted them to or not.

So Micah is, for the most part, talking to the ruling bodies.

Micah then retorts – "this is what you are saying, Does GOD lose his temper? Is this the way he acts? Isn't he on the side of good people?”(MSG)

On a personal note, I was told by a particular pastor not to give words to the body of Christ any longer because several people expressed to the pastor that they thought I made God sound angry. Why do we believe God would not get annoyed, particularly if we are operating contrary to the will of God?
In contrast to the kind, pleasant, and somewhat encouraging words of verse 7, where it says, “doesn't he always bless those who do right?” there is verse eight through eleven to bring us back to reality.

Micah 2:8 - 11 NET.“ but you rise up as an enemy against my people. You steal a robe from a friend, from those who pass by peacefully as if returning from a war. 9) You wrongly evict widows among my people from their cherished homes. You defraud their children of their prized inheritance. 10) But you are the ones who will be forced to leave! For this land is not secure! Sin will thoroughly destroy it! 11) If a lying windbag should come and say, 'I'll promise you blessings of wine and beer,' he would be just the right preacher for these people!”

The Complete Jewish Bible opens with this: “But lately my people behave like an enemy,” “ against my people.”(NET)

If God can generalize, using a sentence such as, " rising up as an enemy against my people," while saying "you are the ones who will be forced to leave," about whom is He talking? Ruling bodies, which, for the most part, are the Jewish priestly council.

To refresh our memories -

Micah 2:1-2 MSG: Doom to those who plot evil, who go to bed dreaming up crimes! As soon as it's morning, they're off, full of energy, doing what they've planned. (2) They covet fields and grab them, find homes and take them. They bully the neighbor and his family, see people only for what they can get out of them.

Since God called Israel Babylon at one point, and Babylon is not a clearly defined entity, is it possible that He is speaking about the ruling class and those who think they have a right to oppress merely because of money? Absolutely, and we see this despicable activity throughout history.

Isn't it the people with money who own the land from which the widows are being evicted? And that is the lead-in to verse 9.

Micah 2:9 NIV: " You drive the women of my people from their pleasant homes. You take away my blessing from their children forever."

Naomi is a good example of verse 9. When we meet Naomi, her husband is dead, and now her sons have died as well. [You can find much of this information in the first chapter of the book of Ruth.] Naomi, knowing she is the inheritor of land in Israel, decides she will go back there. She tells the two daughters-in-law to go back home to their families, but Ruth stays with her. Even in Israel, repossessing her land does not mean she will eat or pay any taxes owed, and so Ruth sets out to glean from a field so that they can survive.

In response to Israel's claim that no harm will come to them, God says,

Micah 2:10 NIV: " Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined, beyond all remedy."

Daniel had spent most of his adult life in Babylonian captivity (Daniel 1:2-4). Sitting quietly one day, reading the scroll of Jeremiah the prophet, he understood “that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.” That time, which was almost over, was the result of Israel disregarding the Sabbath years.

When I point these things out to people, many immediately come back at me with, I have never seen that in Scripture. I have, but I don't have it memorized and had to look it up.

2 Chronicles 36:20-21 KJV  And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:  (21)  To fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years.

The command was to let the earth rest every seven years. Obviously, Israel did not do that. This idea of the seven-year sabbatical time plays a role in the time of God's wrath, as at the end of that time there is a restoration of all things. You see, nothing in God's scheme of things happens by coincidence, nor outside of God's timing.

Micah 2:11 NIV: "If a liar and deceiver comes and says, 'I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,' that would be just the prophet for this people!"

The NIV is a somewhat loose translation, but it conveys what Hebrew is saying through the mouth of Micah. Let me show you another translation that demands an explanation.

Micah 2:11 KJV  If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.

Walking in the spirit — The Hebrew for walking is haw-lak' and means to walk continually and be conversant. The Hebrew for spirit is rûach and means wind, but it also means breath or spirit. The Hebrew word rûach is the counterpart to the Greek word pneuma, meaning a current of air, breath, or a breeze; by analogy or figuratively, a spirit.

Is Micah, in verse 11, defining a “prophet” that is walking in the Spirit of God? Not a chance. This analogy of a false prophet is precisely what they have all been calling for is: plenty of beer and wine for all; nothing will happen but good!

Micah 2:12 MKJV: " I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like the sheep of Bozrah, like the flock in the midst of their fold. They shall be in commotion because of men."

I frequently forget that the limitations within my mind do not limit God. This statement, by the mouth of Micah, is just another word picture that shows Israel diminished in number to where the imagery of a shepherd, tending to a manageable number of sheep, immediately comes to mind.

Just for the fun of it, I looked up the population of Israel. It is 8,907,000. A loss of 2/3 reduces the population to just over 3 million.

Seeing as we see God gathering the remnant, the Message translation makes sense.

Micah2:13 MSG: "Then I, GOD, will burst all confinements and lead them out into the open. They'll follow their King. I will be out in front leading them."

By comparison

Micah2:13 AMP: "The Breaker [the Messiah] will go up before them. They will break through, pass in through the gate and go out through it, and their King will pass on before them, the Lord at their head."

Seeing as the Jewish mind has been trained to refuse flamboyant words, the prophecies that are respected and valued are those that fall into repeated patterns and are verifiable by scripture. Micah 2:13 is just such a prophecy; an example can be found in the words of prophets like Amos.

Amos 9:11 AMP: "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David, the fallen hut or booth, and close up its breaches; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old,"

Yeshua/Jesus Christ the Messiah will come as the conquering King that Israel has longed for; it just won't happen in Israel's timing, and that is proven by the fact that Israel will take a horrendous beating. If you are not aware, Israel has been sustaining a large volume of missiles being shot at them from Gaza.

A friend of mine asked me, do I think that Israel is experiencing that time called Jacob's troubles. Initially, I responded by saying it seems like it doesn't it. But an intense look at the passages surrounding the verse where Jacob's trouble is referenced indicates that this time is specific to the midpoint of the seven years.

Jeremiah 30:7 KJV: " Alas! for that day is great so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it."

While the troubles Israel, all of Christianity, and the innocent bystanders of the world are experiencing can easily be classified as trials. Jesus told us that tribulations would be a part of our lifestyle; this is especially true for those who, like me, live on the front lines of this battle called life.

 John 16:33 MKJV: " I have spoken these things to you so that you might have peace in Me. In the world, you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world."

They covet ... houses, and take them away. A look at Micah 2:1-4

These studies on Micah started as personal readings as I had no understanding of Micah and who he was talking to. Having been accosted by a pastor who told me to stay away from Eschatology, I was thrilled to see that Micah spoke with precision about such things.

 Another aspect of Micah that has troubled me for years was the division of the Northern and Southern Jewish kingdoms, Israel in the north, and Judah in the South. I feel strongly that I have a clear picture of much of that.

The men I sit with several days a week, are always asking me what I am studying, that prompted me to turn my own questions and thoughts into something that might help someone else understand. I realize that much of scripture is self-evident, however, if you grew up in church, as I did, then you have a lot of tales, traditions, and false teachings to undo. Undoing these things takes some dedication on your part, and that lack of commitment to God's word becomes evident as the people around you will fight with you to maintain those tales and traditions.

Here it is November 9, 2018, and this morning we learned that a beautiful, peaceful, retirement community of Paradise, Ca. has pretty much burned to the ground. The lady who put up the video and showed you the destruction as they drove out of town to safety, continually said, "Oh my God!"  You see, the majority of us have just enough experience with a self-serving and convenient religion that we can fight back with religious terminology. We are not fooling anyone, for we have chosen to do what Israel not only did but still does, they turned their back on God. They will, however, just like the person on the street, fight to protect what they think is right. 

If I had one purpose it would be to get people interested and excited about reading the Word of God. I find it a fascinating journey, and I know the end of the story. 

Enough of this, on with the study. 

Micah 2:1 MKJV  Woe to those who plot wickedness and prepare evil on their beds! When the morning is light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

• “Woe to those who plot wickedness."
• “and prepare evil on their beds!”
• "because they have the power to do what they want.”

Micah 2:2 MKJV  And they covet and seize fields, and houses, and take them away. And they oppress a man and his household, even a man and his inheritance.

• “they covet and seize fields, and houses, and take them away.”
   In a previous post on Micah, I made a point of talking about the things that would have motivated the prophet (you know, life.) For example: suppose God brings some Hells Angel motorcycle rider to Christ. That man would undoubtedly have a rough exterior until God is through refining the man (by the way, God won't be done perfecting us until we are changed just before entering heaven.) Micah had to deal with people like, King Ahab, who wanted the field of Naboth; a field which was profitable and happened to be next to the castle. Ordinary ploys at bartering did nothing to change the mind of Naboth, and so, Ahab's wife, who had the power in her hands to take it, had Naboth killed. There is no reason to think that Micah would not have found out about this, especially since Jezebel's actions brought a relatively swift judgment against her, and she was thrown out of an upper window, where she splattered and was eaten by dogs, leaving nothing to bury. This kind of action is high drama.
• “And they oppress a man and his household, even a man and his inheritance." By power wrest the estates out of the hands of the owners. This kind of action is precisely what I was trying to portray when I brought up Naboth.

Seized property. The acquisition of property by oppressing the poor and weak violates both the law against coveting as well as the injunction not to violate the covenantal division of the land to each Israelite household after the conquest. Despite these laws, the mounting debt of small landowners and the political power exercised by large landowners led to abuses, which are mentioned in Egyptian wisdom literature (Instruction of Amenemope).[From the IVPBBC]

Isaiah 5:8 MKJV Woe to those who join house to house, laying field to field, until the end of space, and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land!

Oppressive real estate development. Expansion of real estate holdings in the ancient world was usually at someone else's expense. The story of Ruth is such a tale. Even though the Jews had laws which demanded that another Jew's property was to be returned after seven years, the Jewish investors looked for ways to get around these laws. In Israel, this was a theological as well as an economic crisis. Since God had given them the land as a benefit of the covenant, each family considered its landholdings as its little share in the covenant. Therefore, what otherwise would be a financial tragedy (often with an oppressive dimension) also served to deprive family members of their part in the covenant.

Here in America, we had, several years ago, some lousy banking practices where they made sub-prime loans. These loans were made to people who would not be able to make their payments, and a deluge of people lost their homes to foreclosure.

Micah 2:3 MKJV So Jehovah says this: Behold, against this family I am plotting an evil from which you shall not remove your necks; nor shall you go proudly, but it is an evil time.

• “against this family.”
• “I am plotting an evil from which you shall not remove your necks; ”
• “nor shall you go proudly, but it is an evil time.”

Judges 2:15 MKJV Wherever they went out, the hand of Jehovah was against them for evil, as Jehovah had said, and as Jehovah had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.

Jeremiah 8:3 MKJV And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the rest of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Jehovah of Hosts.

Amos 3:1 MKJV Hear this Word that Jehovah has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,

Micah 2:4 MKJV In that day one shall take up a parable against you and mourn a mourning of mournings, saying, We shall be completely laid waste. He has exchanged the share of my people. How He has removed it from me! To the apostate, He has divided our fields.

• “In that day.”
• “We shall be completely laid waste.”

Micah 2:4 ISV When this happens, someone will compose a proverb about you, lamenting sorrowfully, 'We are completely ruined! He has given my people's heritage to others. How he has removed it from me, dividing up our fields!'

God restored Israel to their land; this restoration began to happen 1917 with the Balfour agreements. But Israel became an acknowledged nation in 1948. And yet, here again, Israel will be completely laid waste. To those who do not read the Bible, with the purpose of understanding, this makes no sense, and neither does God. We are told things like God is love, and because of love, God gave His only Son to die so that the world, through Him, could be saved.

Why then does He not just save these people He calls his own?

Note how I said, through Him, we could be saved. It is an open-ended invitation, and all one has to do is to walk through the door. Soon that door, which is now open, will be closed; and thus will end the age of Grace. Is the opportunity to find or come to Him still available? Indeed, but after the catching away of the church, you will have to prove your allegiance through your actions and testimony. In the face of some entity, like ISIS, you will probably lose your head. 

Here in America, where loving God is on the verge of becoming a criminal act, you will probably be arrested and thrown into one the FEMA camps that are already set up across this nation. I failed to mention that during the seven years following the catching away of the church, the violence and animosity towards mere people will skyrocket. And none of this takes into account the destruction God will send upon the earth.

How do I know this stuff? I have read my Bible and subjected myself to lousy Bible studies, that were so bad that I had to go home and study out what scripture had to say myself. My guess is you figured out that I am no Einstein; I am just a regular guy that has learned to rely heavily on God's grace and mercy.