Kingdom Restored
Before we came to St. Thomas', Sarah and I were at Deep Creek. It had been Sarah's home church for about 12 years and after we were married I started a student placement there. So when Deep Creek decided to sell their old pews to buy new seats, we leapt at the chance. We had grand plans for it, but the pew sat in our garage for a couple of years until this past summer, when we finally got around to restoring it. Now to be fair, we'd tackled a number of other projects in the meantime. Over the years we'd restored two cabinets, a dresser and two cots. (Not to mention having three kids!) So we kind of knew what we were doing.
I wonder if you've had any experience restoring or rebuilding something? Taking something that was broken, or worn, or used and bringing new life into it. Maybe you've tried tackling something bigger than a piece of furniture, like a house. Or maybe just seen it on TV.
But what does it look like to restore a Kingdom? It's a question that's been asked in Scotland this past week. If the vote for independence had passed, they'd need to write a new constitution, establish their own central bank, renegotiate treaties, build their own army, and the like. It would be a big job, much bigger than restoring a pew!
Well, as we saw last week the Kingdom of Judah needed a bit of work. The majority of the priests and prophets in Jerusalem had been preaching peace and prosperity, proclaiming that God's favour rested upon them. But God saw things a little differently. So God sent Micah to:
8 But as for me, I am filled with power,
with the spirit of the LORD,
and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression
and to Israel his sin. (Micah 3:8)
God sent Micah to expose the corruption in Israel and Judah's, to expose the greed that ruled in people's hearts, to highlight the absence of mercy and compassion. We get a sense of how bad things are at the end of chapter 3:
9Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob
and chiefs of the house of Israel,
who abhor justice and pervert all equity,
10who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong!
11 Its rulers give judgment for a bribe,
its priests teach for a price,
its prophets give oracles for money;
yet they lean upon the LORD and say,
'Surely the LORD is with us!
No harm shall come upon us.'