Micah 4

Truth resides in Heaven, which truth bears implications for our world below. What would the world be like if men obeyed that truth? Micah reveals a vision of Heaven manifested on earth. The imagery symbolizes what could be, a future which cannot be literal. Though we know mankind will never go this way, the imagery serves to describe something of how it is to walk with the Messiah while still here. We taste the power of God to set things right, and know it will someday be realized in some fashion. We belong to the truth, and it belongs to us, because we belong to Heaven.
Imagine a world where Zion was what it could have been, a place of genuine truth inhabited by people who understood the full implications of the Laws of God, who understood it was all symbolic of higher reality. It would feel as if Zion were the landmark of all humanity, drawing them like a magnet of desire for truth. The spiritual nation of Israel would be a living, breathing revelation of God’s ideals, by their very existence teaching His Word.
The real Presence of God among such people would make painfully obvious what is just to all mankind. Nations would recognize what was required for good living, and embrace it. There would no longer be any need to produce and keep weapons for defending against invasion. Instead, they could retool those weapons, devoting precious resources to peace and prosperity. Everyone will be secure as undisputed owner of the property he holds. Imagine how low taxation would be! This is what could have been had Israel caught the fire, the vision of what God wanted to offer them.
But we can be like this in our hearts already. We can walk in this lifestyle even now. We know the world will never honor Our God, but we can follow Him regardless. In Christ, He has drawn us from all nations, we who were broken and battered by sin and wrath. In our repentance we found Him and He has made us into a new nation, a New Israel living in the New Zion of the heart. The Lord Himself would rule from there as our Shepherd King, the Messiah.
It was a sad contrast to this Micah saw in his day. It was as if there were no king, so lawless was Judah. Their sins roared like an angry mob out of control, and God’s wrath brought pain worse than a woman in childbirth. Here, while everyone worries about Assyria, it will be Babylon who carries them off into exile. Surely He would eventually redeem them from there.
Because of Israel’s sin, the world beat a path to her doors, not to learn but to cry out in lust to rape the city. Still, their end is unspeakable destruction, while God will surely raise up this New Israel to plunder the nations. When she rises up to claim the souls for Messiah, no power on earth can resist. They do not realize how ripe they are for threshing. The precious souls of the redeemed will be presented as rich offerings to the Lord.
How sad it is when people read these words and demand a literal fulfillment, utterly missing the greatest opportunity in human history.