“The One who breaks through goes up before them;
They break through, pass through the gate, and go out by it.
So their king passes on before them,
And the LORD at their head,” (2:13).
Micah continues in declaring God’s judgment that is coming to those who have erected the high places in their hearts; those who have made wealth their god; a greedy god, leading its followers in the incessant scheming of covetousness, calloused in its hunger for more at the expense of whatever or whoever stands in their way.
Woe to those who scheme iniquity,
Who work out evil on their beds!
When morning comes, they do it,
For it is in the power of their hands.
2 They covet fields and then seize them,
And houses, and take them away.
They rob a man and his house,
A man and his inheritance, (2:1-2).
And their avarice had blinded them to the truth that there is none like God, and to the truth that He will bring down the fruit of their labor on their heads and they will then find themselves the victims of evil.
Therefore thus says the Lord,
“Behold, I am planning against this family a calamity
From which you cannot remove your necks;
And you will not walk haughtily,
For it will be an evil time, (2:3).
And much of this chapter proceeds in the theme of His divine judgment. But from out of the calamity comes His certainty in His promise for the remnant.
“I will certainly assemble all of you, Jacob,
I will certainly gather the remnant of Israel.
I will put them together like sheep in the fold;
Like a flock in the midst of its pasture
They will be noisy with people,” (2:12).
For God’s promise to Abraham would not be thwarted. And though His people would be humbled and brought down in stature and size, He would certainly gather His remnant to live in the midst of His pasture and once again become a great blessing.
Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
2 And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed,” (Genesis 12:1-3).
But it would not be in their own doing that they would receive His blessing to be a blessing; it would be in the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us.
Consider Him, the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us
“The One who breaks through goes up before them;
They break through, pass through the gate, and go out by it.
So their king passes on before them,
And the LORD at their head,” (2:13).
Micah’s prophecy speaks of the Messiah, of the Promised One, of the King, of the Lord, of Jesus.
- He is the Only One
- And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved, (Acts 4:12).
- He is the One Who Breaks Through our bondage
- Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!… (Romans 7:24-25).
- He is the One Who Goes Up Before Us
- “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also,” (John 14:3).
- He is the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us to leads us through the gate
- “I am the gate. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture,” (John 10:9 CSB).
- He is the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us as King
- …He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen, (1 Timothy 6:15-17).
- He is the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us as Lord
- so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, (Philippians 2:10-11).
- He is the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us at our head
- He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything, (Colossians 1:18).
How do we respond to Him, the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us?
He has done what only He can do. And we must do what only we can, respond in faith by placing our trust in Him Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us
Let us believe Him; He Is Jesus, the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us to bring us to the Father.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me,” (John 14:6).
Jesus has done it all. Oh, that we would willingly die to self to take up our cross and follow Him, the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us.
“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me,” (Matthew 10:38).
Jesus warned us that there would be other gates, other choices competing with His truth that are more accessible and even desirable to our natural senses. But let us not be lulled by the broad pleasures that tickle our ears, that we would follow only Him, the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us, by entering only through His narrow way.
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it,” (Matthew 7:13-14).
We must continually guard His truth so as not to be taken captive through the schemes and empty deception of the enemy.
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ, (Colossians 2:8).
To guard truth, we must know the truth. May we be diligent to study His Word, that we would be equipped to accurately guard and share the truth of Him, the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth, (2 Timothy 2:15).
Jesus is coming again and He will judge between those who profess to be His followers and those who truly follow Him, the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us. Oh, that we will be ready when He comes!
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” (Matthew 25:31-32).
He Is Lord. Period. But as we studied in Peter’s writings, he does not coerce our allegiance. Oh, that we would sanctify Him, the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us, that we would daily set Him apart in His rightful place as Lord in our hearts.
but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence, (1 Peter 3:15).
We have all we need in Him, we have been made complete in Him, the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us.
For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority, (Colossians 2:9-10).
Let’s let this reality take hold of our hearts. We. Have. Been. Made. Complete. In. Him.
He has Broken through every chain and He has Gone Before us to show us the way. But the trappings of the good life are always competing for our attention. Today, may we hear His heart’s warning against attaching our affections to the things of this world.
And He as provided the means to do so. Let us renew our minds in His Word that we would be strengthened each and every day to follow the good and acceptable and perfect will of Him, the One Who Breaks Through and Goes Up Before Us.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect, (Romans 12:2).