Tag: Micah 4

Summary of my sermon, based on Micah 4. Preached at Greenhills Christian Fellowship Toronto on November 16, 2025.

It’s a blessing to be back at La Marche. Praise the Lord for this place, and praise the Lord for the fall. Let me start with these lyrics:

Imagine all the people living life in peace…
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will be as one.

John Lennon’s “Imagine” (1971) is one of the most famous songs in the world. BMI called it one of the most performed songs of the 20th century. Rolling Stone once ranked it #3 of the 500 greatest songs. The U.S. National Recording Registry preserved it for being culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant. (To be honest, I’m not sure how significant that is—“Livin’ la Vida Loca” also made the list.)

You can see why the song is popular: it expresses the desire for peace and unity. The problem is how Lennon thought peace might be achieved:

Imagine there’s no heaven… no countries…
Nothing to kill or die for… and no religion too.

That’s his vision of peace—without God and without faith. This hasn’t stopped people from promoting the ideas by skipping the anti-religious parts and keeping the peace lines. It’s a secular “hope” song. But our passage this morning moves in the opposite direction.

We’re in our Christmas series, God With Us: Advent in the Book of Micah. The prophetic books are known for God’s wrath and judgment. Last week, Micah 3 ended with a severe pronouncement:

“Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins.” (Micah 3:12, ESV)

That judgment is heavy because the land symbolizes Israel’s covenant place with God. Earlier Micah said:

“I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards.” (Micah 1:6, ESV)

Flattened like vineyard land—utter destruction—because of idolatry, and because the powerful were stealing land from the weak. It’s right to talk about judgment. A truly righteous God does not let evil go unpunished. Judgment also shows how bitter sin is, and therefore how glorious salvation is:

“Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God.” (Jeremiah 2:19, ESV)

Now we turn to Micah 4—a stunning reversal, the prophetic counterpart of hope and deliverance:

“In the latter days the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains… and peoples shall flow to it.” (Micah 4:1, ESV)

From flattened ruin to the highest mountain. In the ancient world, mountains were treated as sacred places where the gods dwelt. But there is no one like our God (cf. Exodus 15:11). When the LORD’s mountain is lifted up, nations respond:

“Many nations shall come, and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD… that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’” (Micah 4:2, ESV)

This echoes God’s original intention in Genesis 12—that in Abraham “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). As Isaiah says, Israel becomes “a covenant for the people, a light for the nations” (Isaiah 42:6, ESV).

And the result?

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore… and no one shall make them afraid.” (Micah 4:3–4, ESV)

This is the peace Lennon can only imagine because his vision has no place for God. True and lasting peace comes only when God is at the center. That’s also why contemporary, man-centered social “solutions” cannot finally heal the world’s wounds. Micah says:

“All the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.” (Micah 4:5, ESV)

When will this be fulfilled? Faithful Christians differ (eschatology). Many see the fullest realization in Christ’s millennial reign after the tribulation; others differ. But in part, fulfillment has already begun in Jesus’ first advent:

“To us a child is born… and his name shall be called… Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.” (Isaiah 9:6–7, ESV)

Only Jesus brings peace with God and the peace of God:

“The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7, ESV)

And He gives us a living hope:

“According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3, ESV)

Our world is starving for this hope. Here in Canada, euthanasia—so-called medical assistance in dying—shows where imagined hope without Christ can lead: disease, death, injustice, despair. At the same time, let’s not pretend the church is free from struggle. Christians pass through valleys, the “dark night of the soul.” Job loss, underemployment, family struggles, grief, waiting, persistent sin. Christians aren’t hopeless, but we walk through valleys—the “dark night of the soul.” A Puritan prayer puts it beautifully:

“Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights…
In the daytime stars can be seen from the deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine.
Let me find thy light in my darkness, thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow, thy grace in my sin, thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.”

Situations may feel hopeless, but for those in Christ there is no such thing as hopelessness. In Him we have forgiveness of sins; in Him we are more than conquerors; in Him God works all things together for our good and His glory.

Micah also shows whom God gathers in His restoration:

“I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted; and the lame I will make the remnant, and those who were cast off, a strong nation; and the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore.” (Micah 4:6–7, ESV)

God lifts the weak and weary, forms a remnant, and through them brings about His purposes, ultimately in the advent of Jesus Christ, the true and final King, the Prince of Peace.

So how do we live this out? James 1:27 gives a clear call:

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (ESV)

One practical way: partner with Compassion Canada. I support their work because it aligns with what we’ve seen in Micah—child-focused, church-driven, and Christ-centered. Three simple on-ramps:

Sponsor a child. Build a direct, prayerful relationship as they grow through the program.

Give to the Christmas Gift Fund. Every registered child receives a gift and hears the gospel with their family.

Write to your sponsored child. Letters encourage faith, build skills, and communicate the love of Christ.

Let us be a light to the nations in places we cannot physically reach. Only in Christ is there true, lasting peace—and only with God at the center will swords become plowshares, fear give way to rest under the vine and fig tree, and the nations “walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.”