Who’s Holding the Rope? (Micah 2:4-5)
Micah 2:4-5 -In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning away he hath divided our fields.Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD (KJV).
Introduction and Setting
Micah was written about the same time as Isaiah and was a prophecy around 750 B.C. during the time when Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings. Micah was younger than Isaiah and his prophecy has been referred to as “Isaiah in shorthand” because of the striking similarities.
The ministry of Micah was directed toward Jerusalem and Samaria and was the trenchant report of God’s coming judgment. But through the impending doom Micah telescoped the coming glory of the redemption of Israel.
God has not left us to fight our battles alone. In my text Micah used the word “cord” to speak of the casting of a rope to the congregation of the Lord. Some scholars and versions have used the word “line” in verse five to represent a measurement. At any rate God has territory that has been allotted to us as believers. We must hand the line to the coming generation. Micah was lamenting that no one was available to cast the line in the congregation of the Lord. The people’s inheritance was in jeopardy because no one could accurately measure what rightly belonged to them.
Three ropes or lines we must cast to our families:
First, we must cast the line of righteousness. Micah 6:8 declares, 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? Righteousness simply means “to do what is right.” But it is more than just an act; it is a lifestyle. I remember several years ago when my little son came to our car at the convenience store with a smile on his face. “Dad, the guy made a mistake and gave us five dollars in change instead of a dollar. How lucky we are!” I sent him back inside to correct the mistake. I wanted to model doing what was right to him.
Micah 6:8 is one of the most important verses in all of the Bible. Why? When your family observes you doing right, loving mercy and walking humbly it will make a major impact in their life. If a person desires to make a ship seaworthy they must do it while it is in the dry dock. Abraham Lincoln said, “There is just one way to bring up a child in the way he should go and that is to travel that way yourself.”
A father told his son, “you eat like a pig.” Realizing his son had never seen a pig before he said, “You do know what a pig is don’t you?” The little boy responded, “Yes sir! It’s a hog’s little boy.”
One little boy with a bad report card came to his father and said, “Here’s my report card. And here’s one of your old ones I found in the attic.”
Second, we must cast a line of spirituality. Micah 4:1-2 reads, 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. 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.
God forbid that our children know nothing of salvation because we have not taught them. If you do not have family altar don’t expect your children to grow up loving to pray. If you don’t keep the Bible out where your children can see you reading it don’t expect them to love the Word. If sports is more important to you than faithfulness to God’s house, don’t expect your kids to be faithful. YOU CAN’T PUSH YOUR FAMILY INTO HEAVEN; YOU WILL HAVE TO PULL THEM IN!
Third, we must hand our family a line of hope in Christ’ coming. Micah 5:2 reads, But thou, Bethlehem 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. This verse is the astonishing prediction that Jesus would come out of the tiny village of Bethlehem. Jesus was not born in the center of government, Rome. He was not born in the center of education, Athens. He was not even born in the center of religion, Jerusalem. He was born in the tiny village of Bethlehem. The hinge of history swings on a door of an old barn in the tiny hamlet of Bethlehem.
Our children should observe us “loving the appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ.” He is coming soon. For every one prophecy concerning the first coming of Christ there are eight about the second coming of Christ. Twenty three out of twenty seven books of the New Testament directly speak of the second coming of Christ.
He’s coming soon, He’s coming soon.
With joy we welcome His return,
It may be morn, it may be night or noon,
We know He’s coming soon.
Close
On a party ship on the east coast a little boy fell overboard. A strong and healthy young man jumped overboard to rescue the child. “Throw me the rope,” came his cry. A rope was quickly tossed to the rescuer but much to their dismay no one had anchored the rope. That night two souls perished in an angry and turbulent sea because no one was holding the rope. Are you holding the rope for your children? Are you holding the rope for your co-workers? Are you holding the rope for your friends?
Phil L. Redding has served as the General Bishop of the Pentecostal Church of God since 2001. The PCG has approximately 1,200 churches stateside and around 6,000 worldwide. Bishop Redding has been ordained since 1979 and has served his movement as pastor, District and National Youth Director, District and Divisional Christian Educational Director, District Secretary Treasurer, as well as other positions. He has written three books and numerous articles.
God has not left us to fight our battles alone. In my text Micah used the word cord to speak of the casting of a rope to the congregation of the Lord. Micah was lamenting that no one was available to cast the line in the congregation of the Lord.
