He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/mic.6.8.NKJV
Nobody wants to hear bad news. In fact when we often hear bad news of someone passing away our first reaction is denial. This usually turns into anger, bargaining, depression before acceptance. In a world of half-truths and compromise we, (including me) tend to try to water-down the message of the gospel for the sake of tolerance and acceptance. This is not the message of the early prophets and apostles though, as they are without apology preaching the good News of God. He is the God of judgement and condemnation of sin yet is also the God of mercy and love for the sinner who turns back to Him.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Romans 1:16 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/rom.1.16.NKJV
The whole Bible presents this message consistently and repetitively in order for us to understand it. The Bible has always been misunderstood whether intentionally or unintentionally to suit and support ones personal agenda while not understanding the agenda of the main author of it, God Himself. God's story is about Him saving undeserving people with selfish ambitions changing them to become more and more like the image He designed for them. This is the story of Israel and this is the story of the Church.
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
II Corinthians 3:18 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/2co.3.18.NKJV
The book of Micah presents this message again to Israel. A cycle of judgement and salvation given by this ever-seeing all-knowing God.
1st Cycle
Condemnation of Sin
A. Against God (Idolatry)
“Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field, Places for planting a vineyard; I will pour down her stones into the valley, And I will uncover her foundations. All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, And all her pay as a harlot shall be burned with the fire; All her idols I will lay desolate, For she gathered it from the pay of a harlot, And they shall return to the pay of a harlot.”
Micah 1:6-7 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/mic.1.6-7.NKJV
B. Against Neighbor
Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
Micah 2:1-2 KJV
Salvation from God
I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.
Micah 2:12 KJV
In spite of God's anger towards mankind and more specifically Israel in this passage He still chose to save a remnant on which He will gather and bless.
2nd Cycle
Condemnation of Sin
Now hear this, You heads of the house of Jacob And rulers of the house of Israel, Who abhor justice And pervert all equity, Who build up Zion with bloodshed And Jerusalem with iniquity: Her heads judge for a bribe, Her priests teach for pay, And her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord, and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No harm can come upon us.” Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the temple Like the bare hills of the forest.
Micah 3:9-12 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/mic.3.9-12.NKJV
Interestingly this is the message common in modern day Christianity and most religions today. Only positive words of affirmations to all. Money is more important than ministry.
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
II Timothy 4:2-3 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/2ti.4.2-3.NKJV
Salvation from God
But thou, Beth–lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Micah 5:2 KJV
We have a God who is timeless. He sees the future and holds the future. He sent Jesus 750 years after this was written. And with all the Messianic predictions ranging from 48 to 300 which was fulfilled in Jesus alone, you will have to attribute it to the supernatural element of the Bible. This book is truly the word of God proclaiming the Good News (gospel) that God saves His people.
3rd Cycle
Condemnation of Sin
A. Outward religion does not matter, inward change needed
Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Micah 6:6-8 KJV
B. Hidden Sins are seen, open heart to God is required
Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales, And with the bag of deceitful weights? For her rich men are full of violence, Her inhabitants have spoken lies, And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. “Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you, By making you desolate because of your sins.
Micah 6:11-13 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/mic.6.11-13.NKJV
Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Isaiah 1:10-18 KJV
For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Psalm 51:16-17 KJV
Salvation from God
Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea.
Micah 7:18-19 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/mic.7.18-19.NKJV
made a way for Israel and all mankind to go back to Him. It was never religion. It was God making His prescription like a doctor. And His prescription, His solution is for us to repent of our sins and return to Him. We cannot do it on our own. In the new testament Jesus says He is the solution, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We need to ask Jesus, God Himself to save us and change us.
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.