Title Four Freedoms/Micah 4:1-5
Content 4. Four Freedoms
Mic 4:1-5
“He will judge among many peoples, and he will judge strong slander from afar, and crowds will strike their swords into plowshares, and their spears into sickles. ” (4:3)
“God’s judgment is sure to come, but there is still hope.” This is also the prophecy of the prophet Micah.
Hope and hope are mixed together, but hope is a bit futuristic.
“Hope has not completely disappeared, it is still there.” It is said that there is still hope because of God's mercy and amazing mercy.
He said that the mountains of Jerusalem will be covered with grass and will all melt like water and wheat.
President Roosevelt's famous speech on the four freedoms released on January 6, 1941, is well known not only in Korea but also around the world.
This is a historical event in World War II when we made a new resolution to awaken our nation and to obtain freedom through this precious speech on freedom.
He advocated freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of religion and freedom from want.
Roosevelt's speech is probably the setting for the book of Micah.
Because human wisdom does not come from himself, but from the Word of God, if you carefully examine all the speeches of the world and the deeds of great men, you will find that the words of the Bible are always in the background.
1. Four Freedoms
1).Freedom from ignorance
“Come, let us go up to the Spirit of the Lord and come to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us again” (4:2).
Micah asserts that man must be freed from ignorance.
When a person becomes ignorant, he loses his freedom.
A person without knowledge has no dreams and no freedom of action.
The ignorance Micah asserts does not mean that he has not studied in the world or lack of wisdom, but rather that he is ignorant of the Word of God.
Even though God established his law in Jerusalem, they were very ignorant of God's law.
He is the most free man in the world.
If we do not teach ourselves, we become ignorant, poor, and unable to act.
The highway of Zion is not different, but the highway of the Word.
Those who do not have the Word must receive the teachings of God's way.
That is how we must be freed from ignorance.
It is easy for us to think, ‘I have read the Bible a lot and know a lot’.
In fact, the easiest book in the world is the Bible, and the most difficult book is the Bible.
It seems like you know a lot of the Bible, but you don't know it well, you don't know much about it, but you know a lot.
How difficult it is to study this Bible, it takes a lot of time even with one verse.
I booked a flight ticket and prepared everything to attend the World New Testament Conference held at Cambridge University in England for a week from August 10th. I decided to do that, but I couldn't go, so I canceled everything, and the manuscripts I read at that time are mailed to me.
If you see it in the mail, the content is ridiculous.
John 5:1 The scholars who claim to spread all over the world with one single word are wrestling with each other.
In 1984, a man from England from Jerusalem collapsed after being attacked by a German scholar after publishing his thesis.
He said what he knew was the truth, but he said no, so he fainted and was taken to the hospital.
There is no recognition and no circumstance in the academic world.
At mealtime, when scholars who are so close and respectful to each other have a scientific confrontation, they go without blood.
But it is not another, but a part of the Bible and we fight for our lives.
We're bad at being ignorant.
There is nothing to brag about having read the Bible 10 or 20 times.
A Catholic scholar named Niigl, who studies in Brussels, for example, announced that among more than 4,000 manuscripts of Matthew 5:1, among the most important, copies A, B, C, and D were included. That's correct.
I'm memorizing this line by line in Greek.
Even what someone pointed out in some paper in a few years is welcome.
You can't do that even after studying for ten years.
So, whenever I go to a conference, I report to Korean scholars and say, “We are not scholars, and it would be difficult for us to move a mop under them.” said.
No matter how inexhaustible the Bible is, it is impossible to come up with it all.
Since we cannot do this great truth alone, many people do their own research in each field.
Above all, we must be freed from ignorance of God's Word.
If you have confidence in the Word and believe in its deep meaning, then you will have freedom of action.
Freedom in speech and freedom in thought.
2).Freedom from war
War produces devastation and poverty.
So many people cry for freedom from war, but war is not ending in this land.
The war will not cease until the end of the world.
It is because of greed, prejudice, and ignorance of the Word of God.
Micah is calling out words similar to Isaiah 2:4 and Joel 3:10.
freedom from war.
The sword symbolizes war and the plowshare symbolizes peace.
It is said that a knife is used to make plowshares and a spear to make a sickle. This means that tools used in war are transformed into agricultural tools for plowing, sowing and harvesting.
He who is free from the ignorance of God's law gains this freedom.
You may think that true peace comes from a balance of power, but it is not.
You might think that when the USSR and the US balance power, war will disappear, and when North Korea and South Korea have a balance of power, war will disappear, but it is not.
Only from the knowledge of God's Word and obedience to it, war will disappear.
Individual wars, family strife, church strife, and all human conflicts can be avoided by those who have the knowledge of God's Word and those who wake up from ignorance.
After all, war comes from man's ignorance.
If you do not know people well, do not know yourself, do not know what will happen after a while, and are led by misunderstanding, prejudice, and selfishness, you will end up in war.
Those who know and obey God's Word will be transformed and used as an instrument of peace.
The history of this country and that country will appear in which they will never again take up their swords and strike each other, and never practice war again.
3).Freedom from lack
“Each man will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid” (4:4a).
To sit under the vine and fig tree is to rest in peace and security.
The assurance of salvation for believers is the Word of God.
You can enjoy eternal rest by restoring peace and order in the Word of God.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not lack” This is a good poem.
It is a poem loved by people all over the world.
Jehovah is our Shepherd.
Therefore, we have no shortage.
To have no shortage means to have abundance.
who is the poor There are people who say that they are short every day even after putting 100 million won in the bank, and there are people who are rich every day even without a bank account.
There are people who are poor even when they pile up a lot, and there are people who are very rich even when they have nothing.
Today we must also be liberated from this poverty.
However, it is different from so-called liberation theology.
Poverty is not just about material poverty.
The word that the gospel is preached to the poor, cares for the poor, and the poor are blessed means that a poor person is spiritually bankrupt.
It refers to a person who cries out for spiritual life.
Those who are spiritually rich are poor people.
However, the phrase “freedom from poverty” refers to freedom from economic poverty.
It is said that each person will be in a state of abundance to eat in peace.
It's hard to believe in Jesus if you are afraid because you have a body and are afraid of what to eat.
So we are also tested for matter.
‘Please make me neither too rich nor too poor’ is a good prayer.
It means that you should not commit a crime because of material things, nor should you be too poor to be the object of relief that you carry out every month.
All service must precede others.
It is also necessary for the saints to gain financial freedom.
I am a giving committee member and must tithe.
The representative praying person must also have a good attendance rate at all worship services.
4) Freedom from fear
“But we will walk forever in the name of the LORD our God” (4:5b).
“Freedom from fear” is a glorious prophecy indeed.
In verse 2, if you seek God and receive God's guidance, your fear will disappear and all disasters and judgments will be turned into God's grace, hope, and blessing.
We can be used as tools of renewal to re-create this world.
When we are renewed, righteousness is established, order is established, and truth is established.
If God teaches us first, God transforms us, and God gives us strength, we have nothing to fear.
Sometimes we are rather thankful that our prayers are not answered.
If my prayers are fulfilled, I think that even if it is destroyed, it will have already been destroyed.
At that time, I complained that something did not happen because of someone, but when I think about it, I do not know how fortunate I am that he blocked the road because of that friend and God did it according to the will of God.
This world is surrounded by fear.
The promise of freedom from the prisoners of war, the fear of famine, the fear of nuclear weapons, and all these fears is a great comfort and hope for us living in this age.
You can only enjoy this freedom from the Word of God.
Having more nukes doesn't make you free either.
Only the day of the LORD sets us free.
That day has already arrived, is in progress, and will be completed in the future.
Until the time of the Lord's return, we must enjoy this freedom and become the ones who fulfill God's righteousness.