The Prophecy of Micah, Part 3

The Prophecy of Micah, Part 3

In the first three chapters of Micah we saw pronouncements of judgment upon Israel and Judah, judgment which would carry all the way to the “gate of Jerusalem”. We discussed the fulfillment of those judgments in the Assyrian invasions which were not long after Micah had begun preaching. The kingdom of Israel would be lost, and the people of Israel had no recourse in the matter: they would lose all of their possessions and be carried off into captivity. Much of Judah was also decreed by Yahweh to suffer likewise, and they were also carried into captivity by the Assyrians. However in this fourth chapter of Micah the focus of the prophet changes, and his prophesies move from the imminent destruction of ancient Israel and Judah to a vision foretelling what it was that would befall them in their future.

Micah 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

The phrase “the last days”, as it is often rendered in the King James Version, contains the Hebrew word achariyth, Strong's Hebrew Lexicon number 319, and it is defined by Strong to mean “the last or end, hence the future; also posterity”. For reason of its meaning it was translated in the King James Version in a wide variety of ways, but it does not only pertain to the very end of the age, which in the Christian worldview means the time imminent to the Second Advent, although achariyth is generally and wrongly interpreted in such a manner. In fact, the apostles called their very own time the “last days” (Acts 2:17, Hebrews 1:2, 1 John 2:18), while at the same time they also considered the “last days” to be far off in the future in relation to their own time (2 Timothy 3:1, James 5:3, 1 Peter 1:5, 2 Peter 3:3, Jude 18). Therefore the meaning of the phrase is relative to its context. This is also evident in Genesis chapter 49, where in Jacob's prophecy concerning his sons he says “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.” If the things that befell Jacob's sons happened throughout all of the time immediately subsequent to Jacob and continued to happen well into the future, then the same thing is true here, and the references to “the last days” in Micah and in Isaiah, where we find a similar prophecy, began in the period of time following the judgment and deportations of ancient Israel.

The “mountain of the house of the LORD” would be “established in the top of the mountains, and ... exalted above the hills”. In prophecy, mountains and hills are often allegories for nations great and small. For instance, speaking of the doom which he foresaw coming upon the remnant of Judah by the hand of the Babylonians, where Jeremiah said “I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly” he was talking about nations which were in awe of Babylon's great might, and not about literal mountains and hills. There is language found in Isaiah chapter 2 which is very similar to this passage of Micah, leading into a prophecy of the same judgment upon Israel which was made around the same time that Micah was making his own, where it says: “1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.” So much of Isaiah chapter 2 very closely parallels this chapter of Micah.

Notice that neither Micah nor Isaiah say anything which indicates that some temple building would one day be rebuilt. Rather they both said only that “the mountain” of Yahweh's house shall be established. This has nothing to do with a temple building, and everything to do with the people of God, for the appropriate Christian view of the house of God is that God dwells in and among His people, and not in a temple made with hands. From 2 Corinthians 5:1: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Likewise, the earthly dwelling-place of Yahweh was destroyed, but His true home is also eternal in the heavens. As Paul told the Athenians, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24).

That God's earthly dwelling is in His people is evident in 1 John chapter 4: “11 Beloved, if Yahweh has loved us thusly, we also are obliged to love one another. 12 No one has at any time seen Yahweh. If we should love one another, Yahweh abides in us and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He gave to us from of His Spirit. 14 And we witnessed and we testify that the Father sent the Son, Savior of Society. 15 He who shall profess that Yahshua is the Son of Yahweh, Yahweh abides in him and he in Yahweh.”

We had seen in a discussion of the meaning of Zion while presenting Micah chapters 2 and 3, that the word when used prophetically actually refers to the people of Yahweh. This assertion was substantiated by reading Isaiah 51:16 where it says “and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.” In the Psalms, in Isaiah, and in the prophet Joel we see that Yahweh was said to “dwell in Zion”, but the actual temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem was said to have been built on Moriah and not on Zion, both of which were originally mountains in Jerusalem.

While Moriah is a Hebrew term which means “chosen by Yahweh”, apparently the term is not used in the prophets (even upon searching the Hebrew form). However it is also said of Israel that they are indeed Yahweh's chosen. Isaiah 41:8: “But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.” Perhaps with the children of Israel being chosen by Yahweh to be His people and His dwelling place, the two terms converge in an allegory.

Once all of this is understood, it becomes evident that the “mountain of the house of Yahweh” must refer to a great nation of His people, which is formed after the deportations of Israel and Judah, in the “last days” relative to the time of the prophecies which Micah already uttered concerning the destruction of the kingdom of Israel which stood in his time. This interpretation becomes fully manifest once we encounter verses 5 through 8 of this chapter of Micah.

2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Nations are properly people groups, and not governments or geographical areas. In order to find the fulfillment of this prophecy, we must find a great nation which other nations have flowed into. This great nation would govern with the law of God as its guide, and the Word of God as its inspiration. Of the utmost importance, is the description that this nation which is the “mountain of the house of Yahweh” which is established is also of the “house of the God of Jacob”. This means that the people groups of which this nation is comprised must be of the descendants of the ancient Israelites, and not some strange people who have somehow replaced the ancient Israelites.

If this prophecy is fulfilled, or if it is being fulfilled, we must therefore identity a great nation which was founded on Biblical principles, and which therefore also must be a Christian people. Those who reject Christ have not God, according to both the apostle John and Christ Himself. The people of this nation must also have their origins and history in Biblical Israel. If all of these criteria are not met by at least one nation in the world today, then Micah's words are for naught; they are meaningless. Furthermore, the criteria infer that there are also other nations in the world which are of the children of Israel, those from which the many people flow into this great nation. From Jeremiah 3:14: “Turn, O backsliding children, saith Yahweh; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion”.

3 And he [referring to the God of Jacob] shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

We still have war with us today, and therefore this part of the prophecy is not yet fulfilled. Much of the prophecy describes a gradual and an eventual result, which is evident in the subsequent verses, rather than an immediate result. Here we see the final result which all Christians should have expectation of. This nation which is the “mountain of the house of Yahweh” is evidently destined to be the nation through which Yahweh ultimately executes His judgment of the world. However judgment starts at the House of Yahweh itself, and therefore this nation must somehow first be brought to obedience to Him.

5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.

Yahweh is the God of Israel. From Psalm 147: “19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. 20 He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.” This verse clearly tells us that all who are not of Israel will “walk every one in the name of his god”. From Psalm 96:5: “For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.” This verse, in relation to this great nation, is a refutation of humanist universalism that insists that all peoples should worship the same god. After the judgment of Yahweh, if you can find the gods of the other peoples, then perhaps you will find those people. Elsewhere, in Jeremiah chapter 46, the Word of God says “28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.” That full end of all these other nations must correlate with the judgment of God promised here in the final verses of this chapter.

6 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; 7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.

The phrases her that halteth, her that is driven out, her that I have afflicted and her that was cast far off all refer to the children of Israel in the Assyrian and Babylonian deportations. The “strong nation” made from “her that was cast far off” must, ostensibly, be one and the same as the nation which is the “mountain of the house of Yahweh” described in verses 1 and 2 of this chapter. In order to understand the prophecy, we must honestly attempt to follow the children of Israel in their exile, in the period following the Assyrian and Babylonian deportations. [This is the primary difference between Identity Christians and Judaized Christians: Identity Christians actually believe the prophets and the Word of God, rather than attempting to set them at naught. The Jews were not cast afar off in the 8th century BC, but those who would later be Christians were!]

While the Judaean historian and Levitical priest Flavius Josephus did what may be considered an excellent work concerning the history of Judaea in the centuries immediately preceding and then contemporary to his own time, he did not do so well with the ancient history of the world as a whole, and therefore his insights were limited by what may be considered Pharisaical prejudices. However here is what he writes concerning the Israelites of the Assyrian captivity during the time of Ezra the scribe, when Ezra had received permission from the Persian king to lead a group of those Israelites who were in exile back to Judaea: “131 When Ezra had received this letter, he was very joyful, and began to worship God, and confessed that he [God] had been the cause of the king's great favour to him, and that for the same reason he gave all the thanks to God. So he read the letter at Babylon to those Judaeans that were there; but he kept the letter itself, 132 and sent a copy of it to all those of his own nation that were in Media; and when these Judaeans [note that Josephus seems to improperly identify Israelites of the Assyrian deportations as Judaeans, however the final context of the statement reveals that he means to refer to those of the tribe of Judah in Assyrian exile] had understood what piety the king had toward God, and what kindness he had for Ezra, they were all greatly pleased; nay, many of them took their effects with them, 133 and came to Babylon, as very desirous of going down to Jerusalem; but then the entire body of the people of Israel remained in that country; therefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.” [Since not many more than 40,000 people ever returned to Judaea with Ezra, that could hardly be all of the people of Judah in the Assyrian captivity, which took place over 200 years earlier and consisted of several hundred thousand people from Judah alone.] Josephus, Antiquities of the Judaeans, Book 11 (11:131-133).

Now nearly everything Josephus said in this passage is true, if we understand his rather narrow perspective. However his story is not complete. For while the children of Israel and many of the children of Judah were at this time dwelling beyond Euphrates and in those places where the Assyrians had originally planted them, and while their numbers were indeed quite large, they did not all stay there. In fact, in the 7th century BC and after, new groups of peoples theretofore unknown would begin to appear in the historical records, and the origin of these can be considered to be Kimmerian and Scythian, peoples who were actually one and the same, and these names did indeed belong to the Israelites of the Assyrian captivity. Examining all available historical records from the 5th century BC, which was the time of Ezra, to the 1st century AD, which was the time of Josephus, no so-called “Jews” ever dwelt north or east of the Euphrates in any significant numbers, however here Josephus considers the Israelites of these regions to be an “innumerable multitude”. Examining those records, except for ancient nations such as the Medes and Persians who were known to the writers of Scripture from the days of Moses, there are only the Scythians, Kimmerians, Parthians and related tribes dwelling in those places, and they were indeed an “innumerable multitude”. Other places in Josephus corroborate this assessment, that it was indeed these people whom he was referring to, such as in the Preface to his first book, Wars of the Judaeans. (This is discussed at length in a paper at Christogenea entitled Classical Records of the Origins of the Scythians, Parthians,& Related Tribes.)

Here we shall briefly examine second witness, which is an apocryphal book of Scripture that is not necessarily canonical, but which indeed dates to no later than the 1st century AD. The book found in the King James Version Apocrypha known as 2 Esdras is actually considered to be at least three different works concatenated into one, and that assessment by mainstream academics is probably accurate. The portion cited here is from the portion which scholars call 4 Esdras, the oldest and largest portion of the book. From 4 Esdras 13:39-45: “39 And whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him; 40 Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land. [Because an identifiable remnant called Judah was left behind by the Assyrians, which also consisted of much of Benjamin, the fact that most of Judah and Benjamin were also taken by the Assyrians is always overlooked by the ancients.] 41 But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen [the other Adamic nations among whom they were settled], and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt, 42 That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land. 43 And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow places of the river. 44 For the most High then shewed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over. 45 For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Arsareth.” The first home of the Kimmerians in Europe is esteemed to have been in the Hungarian Plain in what is now eastern Hungary, bordering on Romania. In Romania, there is a river called the Siret River to this day, which actually has its sources in the Ukraine and empties into the Black Sea from the northwest. The word “Arsareth” can certainly be interpreted to mean “mountains of Sareth”. The 5th century Greek historian Herodotus wrote that in his time the lands north of the Danube, which he personally visited, were uninhabited except for some colonists from Medea. To the Greeks of the 4th century BC, this was a part of the homelands of the Galatae, and to Tacitus, it was a part of Germania. The deported Israelites certainly fit the description of colonists from Medea.

The Bible tells us exactly where many of the children of Israel were originally sent in their captivity, yet that does not mean that they were to be contained in those places, as we can see in several prophecies, and among them is Isaiah chapter 43: “1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”

Speaking of that same captivity of Israel, Yahweh also says in the prophet Isaiah, in chapter 66: “18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. 19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.” History also helps us to verify these things.

Most of these places are readily identifiable, being among the Adamic nations of Genesis chapter 10. Tarshish is Tartessus in the southern part of the Iberian peninsula, the same place to which Solomon's ships had often traveled many centuries before. Lud can be identified as Lydia in western Anatolia, and also as Etruria, since the Etruscans of northern Italy are by all ancient accounts a branch of the Lydians. The people of Tubal can be identified with a tribe which the Greeks knew lived on the Black Sea, whom Herodotus called Tibarenians. Where Herodotus mentioned them, he mentioned them in company with the Moschi, or Moschians (The Histories, 3:94, 7:78). They were neighbors to the Moschi whom the Bible calls Meshech. The Bible often mentions Meshech and Tubal together, and Strabo also mentioned the Moschi and Tibareni together in that same region (Geography, 11.2.18). Javan was the Biblical and also the Persian name for the Ionian Greeks.

Not much more than a hundred and twenty years after the Assyrian deportations had begun, the people whom the Greeks called Kimmerians, along with other Scythian tribes, did indeed begin to appear in all of these places. At the end of the 7th century BC they destroyed Nineveh itself, and then crossing Anatolia destroyed Phrygia, sacked the cities of Lydia and threatened Ionia. By the middle of the 5th century BC tribes of the Gauls, as the Romans called the Galatae, began to swarm into what is now northern Italy, overrunning the Etruscans. Just before 390 BC they invaded Italy and sacked Rome. The Roman historian Livy had described them as a strange new people, relative to that time which he was recounting. By that same time they had come to occupy much of modern France and parts of the Iberian peninsula, as well as northern Germany. By the 2nd century BC, portions of them had crossed the sea and were later known as Cymry and Caledonians, or Picts. [The Britons were earlier Phoenician and Trojan inhabitants of Britain and Ireland]. If the prophet Isaiah tells us where the children of Israel would be sent in their exile, and these Germanic tribes begin to appear in all of these places as early as 200 years after that writing, then their identity cannot be a mystery. However for another 800 years these tribes of Israelite-Scythians would be migrating from Asia into Europe, while they never totally left Asia, and among the later waves of them were those known as Saxons and Goths, and even some of the so-called Slavs (many of whom are also ostensibly Japhethites). [See the essays at Christogenea entitled Classical Records and German Origins, which number 6 to date.]

These are only a portion of the proofs of the identity of Israel in captivity, and there are many more in the Bible, in history and in archaeology. The only purpose here is to offer enough proof to illustrate this point: that the children of Israel in captivity became those peoples later known as Keltic and Germanic. However many other tribes of Israelites sprung from those who emigrated out of Israel in the centuries prior to the Assyrian deportations, and it is not our intent to discuss them here. Among them, however, were people later known as Phoenicians, Trojans, Dorians, Danaans, Milesians and even Romans. [Several other essays at Christogenea discuss these things more fully.]

To repeat verse 7: “And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.” The further away the children of Israel traveled from the place of their captivity, the stronger the nations which sprang from them. We can see these stages in the development of the West, from the ancient Saxon kingdoms, then to the Germanic Holy Roman Empire founded by the Frankish kings, to the British empire and then ultimately to America. Verse 1 of this chapter of Micah describes America perfectly where it says “But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of Yahweh shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.” In our Revelation chapter 12 presentation given here nearly three years ago, we said: “America is the first and only nation to have been founded as a Christian nation, or actually as a federation of Christian nations - which are the original individual States. And just as the Dragon tried to kill the Christ child as soon as it was born, the international jewish bankers have tried to destroy America ever since it was born. It should be without doubt that America is the nation foreseen at Jeremiah 3:14 where it states 'Turn, O backsliding children, saith Yahweh; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion'. While there are other prophecies in Isaiah chapter 66, Daniel chapters 7 and 12, and elsewhere which are certainly referencing this nation, it is evident that Micah chapter 4 is the most complete prophecy of America in the Scripture.” [Where it says Daniel 12 the intention was to refer to the last verse of Daniel 11, which informs us that the “glorious holy mountain” is “between the seas”.] It is also no coincidence, that America as a federation of nations was founded 2,520 years after the Assyrian deportations began, which is twice a time, times, and half a time, or seven times – the seven times of punishment of Leviticus chapter 26.

8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

While most, if not all of the mainstream commentaries ignore this connection, it is to this verse in Micah that the words of Christ recorded in Matthew 21:43 should be cross-referenced, where He said to those in Judaea who opposed Him: “For this reason I say to you that the kingdom of Yahweh shall be taken from you and given to a Nation producing its fruits!”

The tower of the flock, the stronghold of Zion, is the stronghold of Yahweh's people in their captivity. Once again, this must represent that nation described by the phrase “mountain of the house of Yahweh” in the opening verses of this prophecy.

The prophet Daniel gives a couple of visions which may be correlated to this chapter of Micah. In Daniel chapter 2, the prophet describes a series of beasts which are identified with certainty with the ancient world empires beginning with his own time, the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman. The Roman empire is then prophesied to be supplanted by a stone “cut out of the mountain without hands”, after which a kingdom would be set up which would never be destroyed. From Daniel chapter 2: “44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” This vision also identifies the people of God as the Germanic tribes, since only they broke the old Roman empire into pieces. People who have descended from the Goths, Franks, Angles and Saxons, along with a handful of related tribes, have dominated world history and politics ever since.

In Daniel chapter 7 there is a similar vision, although it is somewhat more complex, which presages an even greater span of world history. This vision also contains a series of beasts representing the ancient world empires, and a series of despots portrayed as horns which arise after them. Yet at the end of the vision, we see that all of these are destroyed: “21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; 22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. 27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him” (Daniel 7:21, 22, 27). Understanding what the symbols of Daniel chapter 7 represent, we can also understand that the Germanic peoples are indeed the “saints of the Most High”. After the passing of the horns of Daniel 7, the Reformation established that the Word of God would remain in the hands of His people, and again, and for better or worse, those people have dominated world history and politics ever since.

9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. 10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

There is very similar language in Isaiah, in that very same chapter 66, which precedes the statement which was already cited here that told us where the children of Israel would go in their captivity: “7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. [Christ was born long before the end of Israel's period of punishment.] 8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. [These children are the nations to come from ancient Israel.] 9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.”

In the phrase “as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children”, we see the vehicle by which Yahweh chose to fulfill the promise to Abraham, that his seed would indeed become many nations and inherit the earth. This was partially fulfilled in those nations such as the Danaan and Dorian Greeks, the Trojans, Illyrians and Romans, and the islands of the west populated by the Israelite Phoenicians. However the fulness of the promise came in the children of Israel taken away by the Assyrians, from whom came the Kimmerians, Parthians and Scythians, and eventually the Keltic and Germanic tribes and related peoples, the tribes which dominated the nations later known as Christendom and which dominate world history unto this day. Here Micah is confirming to us, that the promise to Abraham through Israel would be fulfilled in “her that halteth, her that is driven out, her that I have afflicted and her that was cast far off” (verses 6 and 7). Paul of Tarsus understood the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham, and Paul understood that as the reason for the spread of Christianity into Europe. Therefore he explains in Romans chapter 4 that the “nations” to whom he brought the gospel were those same nations in which Abraham believed: those nations which were promised to come from his loins.

As for the promise that “thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered”, the children of the Assyrian captivity, which included nearly all of Israel as well as the greater part of Judah, did not go to Babylon. Therefore Babylon here cannot mean to refer to the ancient city. Rather, Babylon must represent something else, something which transcends the ancient place.

In Revelation chapter 12, we see a woman described who was “cloaked with the sun, and the moon beneath her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” Ostensibly, the woman represents the twelve tribes of Israel. She then “fled into the desert where she has there a place having been prepared from Yahweh, in order that there they may nourish her for a thousand two hundred and sixty days.” Later in the same vision, after a war is described where Satan, the dragon, is cast down to earth, it is said that “when the dragon saw that he had been cast down into the earth, he persecuted the woman who had given birth to the man-child.… And the serpent had cast from his mouth water as a river after the woman, in order that he may have her carried off by the river. And the earth assisted the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and gulped down the river which the dragon had cast from his mouth. And the dragon was angered by the woman and went to make war with those remaining of her offspring who keep the commandments of Yahweh and have the testimony of Yahshua.”

It is therefore not a coincidence, that as the Germanic peoples began to settle down in their new European homes, after the old Roman empire had been broken in pieces, they also came to accept Christianity and began to build a Christian civilization. And it is no coincidence that shortly thereafter the Arabs and then the Turks and the Mongols, all with the instigation or assistance of the Jews, attempted to invade and subjugate the nations of Europe. But at this time, as we see it indicated where “the earth helps the woman”, the woman prevails.

However it is also no coincidence that the woman “fled into the desert” where she had a place of refuge for many centuries, and then later where John has a vision which is recorded in chapter 17 of the Revelation, he says that one of the seven messengers of God “brought me to a desert”, where he finds a whore sitting atop of a beast, “having a gold cup in her hand full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication, 5 and upon her forehead a name is inscribed: 'Mystery Babylon the Great, Mother of the Whores and the Abominations of the Earth'.” The children of Israel were represented by the woman of Revelation chapter 12 who fled into the desert, and the same children of Israel are now the whore of Revelation chapter 17, joined to the beast, which John was later taken out into the desert to see. Therefore Yahweh said through the prophet Micah that “thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered”, and here they are today, where they do indeed need to be redeemed from the hand of their enemies.

11 Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. 12 But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.

Verse 11 cannot mean to refer to the sieges of Israel in the time of the deportations, because at that time the enemies of Israel were successful in overcoming them, as Micah had already told them that they were going into captivity, and that they had no recourse in the matter. Yet here from verse 12, it is apparent that the enemies of Israel will certainly fail, and that they themselves will be gathered “as sheaves to the floor”, which is a description reminiscent of the fate of the tares in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares in Matthew chapter 13. It is the threshing-floor where the wheat is separated from the tares and the chaff.

This prophecy must therefore be correlated to other similar prophecies, such as those in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, Revelation chapter 20, and in Psalm 118.

Ezekiel chapter 38 lists a consortium of nations in league under Gog, from the “land of Magog”, and the nations listed are names familiar from Genesis chapter 10. While it is evident upon examining the contents of the list of nations in this league, that all of these are now race-mixed nations and not the actual Genesis 10 Adamic peoples that the names once represented, these names are used, ostensibly, so that students of Scripture are able to identify who these peoples are today. These nations are now those of Eurasia, including Russia, and the Arab nations of the subcontinent and the Near East. Most of these nations are now Islamic, however a convincing case can be made, that Gog itself represents world Jewry, and we have done that in our Revelation commentary for chapters 19 and 20, where we said that “Gog is Ezekiel's term for the eighth beast of Revelation chapter 18, which is world jewry. Having infiltrated 19th-century Christianity and having poisoned its doctrines with the Bullinger and Scofield Bibles and other such works, now most of the true Christian Israel peoples of the world worship this beast. This is the beast which gathers all of the nations to battle against the children of Israel, which is also described in Revelation chapter 20.” This is precisely what the Jews have been doing throughout all Christian nations at this very time.

In Revelation chapter 20, we read “7 And when the thousand years are completed, the Adversary [Satan] shall be released from his prison 8 and shall go out to deceive the Nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them to battle, of which the number of them is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they had gone up upon the breadth of the earth and encircled the encampment of the saints and the beloved city, and fire descended from out of heaven and devoured them. 10 And the False Accuser who deceived them is cast into the lake of fire and sulfur where are also the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night for the eternal ages.” This prophecy, as it was also established in our Revelation commentary, began its fulfillment over two hundred years ago upon the emancipation of the Jews in Europe, granting them the ability to launch the political takeover of all Christendom which is also manifest in its fulness at this very time.

With this political takeover by Jewry, this deception of the nations, all of Christendom is being overrun with aliens under false pretenses. Therefore speaking of this same adversarial consortium of nations we see in Ezekiel 38 that it says “8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. 9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. 10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: 11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, 12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.”

However Ezekiel chapter 39 informs us of what the end of this invasion by the hordes of Gog and Magog is going to be: “2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: 3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. 6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD. 7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the [nations] shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. 8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken. 9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:”

There is a definitive completion in this promise, which although it is repeated in many other places is encapsulated quite succinctly in Jeremiah chapter 30 where it says: “11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” There should be no mistake in Israel as to the fate of the non-Israel peoples in the world today. And if the prophecy has been true for well over 2,700 years, then we can certainly expect it to come to a complete fulfillment.

13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.

In case we did not understand Jeremiah 30:11, the prophecy is repeated at Jeremiah 46: “28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.”

In the prophecy of Obadiah, in verses 15 through 18, we see these same things foretold: not only the end of the house of Esau, which is mostly comprised in world Jewry, but also the end of all of the nations which are feeding themselves off of Yahweh's holy mountain, which is Zion: the children of Israel. From Obadiah: “15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen [or nations]: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. 16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen [or nations] drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. 17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. 18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.”

It is indicated both here in Micah chapter 4 and in Obadiah, that the children of Israel will certainly have a part in the final vengeance of Yahweh God against His enemies. However it is important to understand when that is supposed to happen. For they can certainly never take any action of their own volition, but are bound to wait upon their Lord. Of course, chronologically it cannot be told just when that is going to be. However it can be told from the state of affairs of the society just when that time may come, from the Revelation, chapter 18: “1 After these things I saw another messenger descending from heaven having great authority, and the earth is illuminated from his effulgence. 2 And he cried out with a mighty voice saying: 'Babylon the great has fallen, has fallen! And it has become a dwelling-place for demons and a prison for every unclean spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird, 3 because from of the wine of the passion of her fornication fell all the nations, and the kings of the earth fornicated with her, and the merchants of the earth are enriched from the power of her wantonness!' 4 And I heard another voice from out of heaven, saying: 'You come out from her, My people, that you should not partake in her errors, and that you would not receive from of her wounds, 5 because her errors have built up as far as heaven and Yahweh has called to mind her injustices! 6 You return to her as she also had rendered, and you double twice the things according to her works. In the cup which she had mixed, you mix double for her! 7 As much as she had magnified herself and lived wantonly, so much you give torment and grief to her! Because in her heart she says that ‘I sit a queen and I am not a widow and I have not seen grief’, 8 for this reason in one day shall her plagues come: death and grief and famine, and she shall be burned with fire, because mighty is Prince Yahweh who judges her!'”

So where Christ in the Revelation says to His people “You come out from her, My people, that you should not partake in her errors, and that you would not receive from of her wounds” we see that Babylon has already fallen. Then He says to His people “You return to her as she also had rendered, and you double twice the things according to her works. In the cup which she had mixed, you mix double for her! As much as she had magnified herself and lived wantonly, so much you give torment and grief to her!” With this, we can see exactly when, as Obadiah says, “the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame”, because the cup that the heathen drink is ultimately the same cup of Yahweh's wrath. And therefore we also see exactly when all of Israel should hear the call to “Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion”, and there will be no mistake about it. It is also no coincidence, that the next vision in Micah, recorded in Micah chapter 5, opens with a Messianic prophecy.

Psalm 118 is also a Messianic prophecy, and here we offer it in part: “8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. 9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. [For these reasons, the next Hitler is Christ.] 10 All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them. 11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 12 They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. [Prophetically, “me” here must be the Body of Christ.] 13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me. 14 The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. 15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. 16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. 17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. 18 The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death. 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: 20 This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter. 21 I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. 22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. 23 This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. 24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Therefore is the return of the Messiah directly related to the destruction of all these non-Israel nations, and the true salvation of his people Israel. Likewise, Revelation chapter 19 and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb describe that very thing. The promise of the return of Christ, therefore, includes the cry, “All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them”, and also the cry “Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion”. We must rejoice, and praise Yahweh our God, that we see these things being fulfilled in our lifetime and that we can discuss it openly, and therefore we know that He is true.