Confession, Forgiveness, and Mercy

Micah 7:8-20

Israel's Confession and Comfort

8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;
When I fall, I will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
The LORD will be a light to me.

9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD,
Because I have sinned against Him,
Until He pleads my case
And executes justice for me.
He will bring me forth to the light;
I will see His righteousness.

10 Then she who is my enemy will see,
And shame will cover her who said to me,
"Where is the LORD your God?"
My eyes will see her;
Now she will be trampled down
Like mud in the streets.

11 In the day when your walls are to be built,
In that day the decree shall go far and wide.
12 In that day they shall come to you
From Assyria and the fortified cities,
From the fortress to the River,
From sea to sea,
And mountain to mountain.

13 Yet the land shall be desolate
Because of those who dwell in it,
And for the fruit of their deeds.

God Will Forgive Israel

14 Shepherd Your people with Your staff,
The flock of Your heritage,
Who dwell solitarily in a woodland,
In the midst of Carmel;
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
As in days of old.

15 "As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show them wonders."
16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
They shall put their hand over their mouth;
Their ears shall be deaf.

17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent;
They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth.
They shall be afraid of the LORD our God,
And shall fear because of You.

18 Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?

He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy.

19 He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all our sins
Into the depths of the sea.

20 You will give truth to Jacob
And mercy to Abraham,
Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.

Micah spoke the words of the LORD for all to hear how he would hear His people’s confession of their sins and find forgiveness and mercy in Him.  Israel began by telling her adversaries not to gloat over her fallen state because she knew that God was still her light as she sat in a dark place.  God’s people would accept the wrath of God due on their sin until He pleaded their case for them and brought them into the light of grace in His righteousness because they lacked their own.  This is the heart of the gospel message, that we all are sinners needing to confess and turn away from our sin towards Him with contrite hearts and admission of our unrighteousness apart from the righteousness of Christ (Romans 10:3-4, Philippians 3:9) into whom we are called.  He is our intercessor, our advocate who pleads our case while knowing we are guilty and deserving of wrath for our sin.  Our enemies point out our sinfulness and we respond with the mercy and forgiveness of His grace freely given while undeserved.  They taunt us by asking where our God is when we suffer, but we see their end like the psalmist said in Psalm 73:11, 17, 27, and we declare His work in and for us (Psalm 73:28) in the same way.  God is the Great Shepherd of all His people whom He calls and draws to Himself to care for and feed us after delivering from bondage to sin like those led out of Egypt long ago.  The nations of the ungodly will have their mouths stopped when witnessing His grace put on display which is Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).  What a God we have as His children, the One who pardons iniquity and the sin of all whom He has called as a remnant out of all nations, both Jew and Gentile, slave and free, man and woman (Galatians 3:28)!  There is no other like Him!  Though rightly angry at our sin, He chooses not to hold onto that forever because He rejoices in showing us undeserved mercy with the compassion of His deep love and care as our Shepherd and lover of our souls.  He throws our sins down as if into the deepest trench in the ocean and gives us His truth and mercy instead, just as promised long ago through Abraham as the father of us all by the faith (Romans 4:3, 13, 16) in which we stand in the righteousness of Christ.  In the confession of our sin and faith in Him we receive forgiveness by this grace in which we stand firm forever.  That is the good news given to Israel through Micah as a shadow of the hope for all His people that we now possess.  This is His truth and mercy.  This is grace undeserved and hope eternal.