It is written in the scriptures, “I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel, I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men The breaker is come up before them they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them” (Micah 2 12-13)
This passage provides a wonderful picture of Israel assembled together in the last days As the fig tree shoots forth her branches, the people of the Lord await Christ’s return The Lord will call forth from the four corners of the figurative heavens to gather His people from afar.
God’s judgments in the earth
We focus in on the phrase, “The breaker is come up before them they have broken up, and have passed through the gate” This is the great day of God Almighty, when He, through His Son, comes in visitation to the earth.
“The breaker” can be rendered “one who breaks open,” and in Micah 2 13 speaks of Christ leading the saints “to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people, to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute upon them the judgment written this honor have all his saints” (Psa 149 7-9)
Isaiah proclaims, “For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your re-reward” [“rear guard”] (52 12) This will come to pass in that great day when the arm of the Lord awakes, as in the ancient days when He cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon (the sin power of Egypt, Isa 51:9).
The saints shall judge the earth with their king at their head “And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called, the repairer of the breach (paras, to break apart), the restorer of paths to dwell in” (Isa 5812) Indeed, the saints shall be trees of righteousness and their leaves will be for the healing of the nations They shall be “the restorer of the paths to dwell in,” paths which lead to righteousness.
Foreshadowings in David’s day
We are given clear pictures of the future day through many shadows and types in the Old Testament One example is found m II Samuel 5 David was anointed king over Israel and, being a man after the Lord’s own heart, his chief concern was to take the stronghold of Zion from the Jebusites so that he administer righteous judgment from that place and establish there a center of worship for the nation, surely a foreshadowing of the future time when all nations would come to worship at Jerusalem
It would be written of this mount, “For the Lord has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling place This is my resting place forever, here I will dwell, for I have desired it I will abundantly bless her provision, I will satisfy her poor with bread I will also clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy There I will make the horn of David grow, I will prepare a lamp for my anointed His enemies I will clothe with shame, but upon himself his crown shall flourish” (Psa 132:13-18)
We find a remarkable shadow in II Samuel 5 17-25 The Philistines heard David was made king and set their armies against Israel in the valley of Rephaim. Rephaim means “uproar, commotion, confused noise” There is a day coming when the heathen shall again come to the valley of uproar and commotion The tumultuous ones shall set themselves against the Lord and his mighty ones when the Lord “gathers all the nations to battle against Jerusalem ” (Zech 142-4 NKJV)
Knowing that the victory did not he in his own strength, “David inquired of the LORD, ‘Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?’ We then see a beautiful picture of the Lord’s guidance, “Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand” David instantly recognized where his strength came from, “The Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters ” The Philistines were a godless people, set upon the destruction of the Lord’s anointed In the heat of battle they “left their images” and David and his men destroyed them.
Again the Philistines came to destroy David in the valley of Rephaim and again David inquired of the Lord who responded, “Thou shalt not go up, but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself for then shall the Lord go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines And David did so, as the Lord had commanded him, and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer”
In these beautiful words the Lord reveals to David that the angels will go to battle with him The Lord revealed His intent and His method and David enjoyed a great victory because of his faith and obedience
A foretaste of the future
This battle is but a foretaste of the final warfare to come The “breaker” shall be at the head for, “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought m the day of battle” The outcome will not be left m doubt as we see when the Lord and His angels fought for David so long ago.
It is our blessed lot that we can be included in his company in that great time to come We need not faint nor lose heart m spite of our trials and suffering, but strive to serve the Lord faithfully, looking for the blessed day of our Lord’s return.
We have the glorious assurance that “[Christ] is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace” (Eph 2:14-15)
Let us take encouragement from hymn 92, “Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, the clouds ye so much dread, are big with mercy, and will break in blessings on your head.”
Indeed, we must wait in hope, “till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4 13)
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One