Micah says they should cry and plead and repent

He says it will go badly for those who plot wicked schemes, especially in those final times when Yahweh will call all of us to account. In chapter 3 Micah is rebuking the rulers and all of the false prophets

Will all of this end in nothing but disaster? Starting in chapter 4, Micah says no, and that will lead to our verses about Bethlehem. The immediate context starts in Micah 4 with a description of the coming of the gospel.

“But in the latter days, It will happen …” Mic 4:1
Good Things Are Coming!

That is according to this ancient prophet Micah, and his contemporary Isaiah. Isa 2:2-3 and Mic 4:1-2 are just about the same. Compare them for yourself in almost any translation. However it does says that despite all of the horrors of their times that,

“1 But in the latter days,
It will happen that the mountain of Yahweh’s temple will be established on the top of the mountains,
And it will be exalted above the hills;
And peoples will stream to it.
2 Many nations will go and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh,
And to the house of the God of Jacob;
And he will teach us of his ways,
And we will walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion will go forth the law,
And the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem;”
Micah 4:1-2

Now the Mountain of the Lord’s House
is an important subject.

It was pointed out in the posts on mountains in September of 2019 that mountains continually carried religious significance in themselves. “Mountains for Places of Worship,” “Mountains a Blessing, Mountains a Snare.” Lastly “God’s Mountain Will Rule ALL,” which is what Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 deal with.

It does say that “out of Zion will go forth the law,” at the end of verse two. The gospel was preached first on Mount Zion in Peter’s sermon to the worshippers in Acts 2. In this way “the law of Christ” (1Cor 9:21, Gal 6:2) began going forth. And nations have streamed to this glory, and are still doing so.

Then it goes well beyond anything that
has happened so far.

In Mic 4:3 it says the Messiah will judge between many peoples. And then it says

“Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
Neither will they learn war any more.”
Mic 4:3d-e

This has NEVER happened, either spiritually or physically. Wars are still going on, both physical and spiritual, and we are to put on the full armor of God (Eph 6:13) and wage the good warfare (2Cor 10:4). Jesus says not a single letter of this can fail, Mtt 5:18. But this WILL happen. How much time is between Mic 4:2 and Mic 4:3. We do not know.

Then notice how prophecy works

It relates the immediate thing of which the prophet speaks, to the end, the objective, of all things. We will look at a very easy to understand example of this in Part 5.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901