Title: Shrine of Micah/Judges 17:1-13
Contents Micah's Shrine 98.10.4
Among the many people who visit the church these days, how can most of them come out and receive blessings? Or, there are many people who come to the church while pondering how to get a solution in such a difficult time. If the church is a place to solve these problems, it is not the church that the Lord has established. Rather, it is a Buddhist with a church sign. Those who want answers to these problems should go to the shaman and find out. However, the problem is that the church today has been turned into a place to solve these problems, the seriousness of the problem.
In one word, the state of Israel in the period of the Judges is stated, "In those days there was no king in Israel, so every man did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6, 21:25). The image of God that appeared in the Age of Judges is the image of God during a long war. Who are you at war with? It is a battle between the god of Jehovah and the god of Baal. The characteristics of Jehovah and Baal are as follows. Jehovah accomplishes his salvation by sacrificing himself in the Lamb, and Baal is a god who grants man's desires and is related to man's self-magnification.
However, Jehovah is not the one who grants man's wishes, but the God who tramples upon him and, on the contrary, deprives him of everything he has. Because man cannot pass the final judgment of fire with what he is currently suffering. Therefore, those who become God's people must know the meaning of the lamb's sacrifice and live their lives while always maintaining that they have received mercy from God.
Nevertheless, those who seek blessings to fulfill their desires or to expand themselves while seeking Jehovah God and seeking Jesus cannot be called the true people of God. Rather, such a person is a Baal worshiper. After all, whoever they were, it was Israel at the time. Here we should first discuss the meaning of idolatry. Idolatry doesn't just mean making a form and serving it.
If we look at the contents of the 2nd commandment of the Ten Commandments, we see these words. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image" (Exodus 20:4), and Deuteronomy 5:8 says, "You shall not make a carved image for yourself." As for the concept of idols shown here, we can see that to seek a god "for oneself" is idolatry. In other words, if you seek Jesus for your own good, for the good of your children, that is idolatry.
Today's text shows the state of the people of Israel in the period of the Judges through one individual and one family. The content of this text is that there was a man named Micah in Ephraim who stole the property of his mother. When the mother realized that the money she had kept secret was gone, she cursed her. Cursed be anyone who stole my money! But he found out that the one who stole the money was none other than his son. So he said that he wanted the Lord to bless his son who surrendered himself to turn the curse into a blessing. He then gave the money to his son to do what he wanted to do in the first place, but he does not accept it. So, Micah's mother made the statue that her son had originally intended, using 200 pieces of silver, and even hired a priest to erect it.
Deuteronomy 27 already nailed the cursed object. When the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, there were certain things that were forbidden. One of them was that those who climbed the Mount of Cursing on Mount Ebal would say Amen, saying that those who secretly set up idols carved or molten by a craftsman would be cursed. . There, we see all the laws of the law, such as those who disrespect their parents, those who move the landmarks of their neighbors, those who cause the blind to go astray, those who make accusations against strangers, orphans, or widows, and those who take bribes to kill the innocent. Those who do not practice the Word are subject to curses.
It's the law to set up a personal image in Micah's family and even hire a priest to set it up. This attitude of Micah is that I want to have my own god. A god for me, a god for my family, so that my family is prosperous, my family is healthy, and having a priest who prays for me to fulfill my wishes is not only a great comfort, but how proud and reassuring is it? It can be seen that this was the way of life and appearance of the Israelites at that time. It is an act of not caring the slightest bit about the fact that it is a great crime against God.
Why is this action a great offense against God? It is because they are serving idols, not God. That is, because they are serving the god of money. They worship a god called Mammon. The god he serves for his own well-being, no matter how much he calls on the name of Jehovah, it is an idol, and no matter how much he takes the name of Jesus, it is an idol Jesus.
The Bible tells us, ?쏡o not strive to be rich??(Proverbs 23:4). But humans keep trying to get rich. This phenomenon is not just for people who do not believe in Jesus, but also for people who go to church. On the contrary, if I had done more, I would have done more, never less. Therefore, they perceive that being rich is evidence of a successful life of faith, and they consider that their wishes come true as an answer to prayer. Why would God reject these things? This is because when a human being is just a little full, his heart becomes arrogant and he forgets the Lord (Hos. 13:6). It is also because those who love silver are not satisfied with silver (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
And what is even more serious is that the accumulation of wealth becomes the basis for judgment when the Lord returns and judges the last time. ?쏬isten, you rich, weep over the troubles that will come upon you; your riches are rotten, your clothes are mothed, and your silver and gold are rusted, and this rust will be a witness to you, and you will eat your flesh like fire in the last days. have accumulated wealth??(James 5:1-6). As the parable of the rich man and Lazarus showed, how difficult it is for a rich man to go to heaven is more difficult than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. That is, the rich cannot go to heaven (Matthew 19:26). Also in Luke 6:24 it says, "Woe to you, you rich, for you have already been comforted." Because the rich do not need the comfort of the Holy Spirit and do not need the redemption of Jesus Christ. When Christ came to this earth, he did not come as a rich man, but rather as the Creator and Ruler of all things, he came as a poor man. The reason is said to make us rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).
The poor are always hated by their brothers and neighbors (Proverbs 14:20, 19:7). The Lord also said, ?쏽ou cannot serve both God and money??(Matthew 6:19). In other words, money, not Baal, could take the place of God. Therefore it is said that you do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. To lay up treasures in heaven means that there are no treasures on earth. It also means that you cannot move things on earth to heaven. It means that the designated treasure is in heaven, and we should not focus our attention on earthly things, but live with hope in heaven.
?쏶eek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you??(Matthew 6:33).