MICAH 4:5 EXPLAINED

Have you ever read Micah chapter 4? This chapter is clearly speaking about the millennium, when people will "beat their swords into plowshares" (Micah 4:3). So what about verse 5? What does that verse mean in the context of the millennium?

At the time when Jesus Christ will be ruling this earth, how can "all people" possibly walk in the name of their own god? Because that is what this verse is saying. Will people during the millennium have any other gods than Jesus Christ?

Let’s take a closer look at the millennium.

When Jesus Christ returns, then the first resurrection takes place. Exactly 144,000 individuals will be either changed in the twinkling of an eye (see 1 Corinthians 15:52), or they will be resurrected from the dead.

Jesus Christ will be "King of kings" (Revelation 17:14). And all of the 144,000 in the first resurrection will be "kings" under Jesus Christ. So Jesus Christ will be King over 144,000 kings under Him. That is what the expression "King of kings" means. In this regard Revelation 5:10 tells us:

So the questions are:

What will kings do during the millennium? And what will priests do during the millennium? These two words are not intended to be honorary titles, like some honorary doctor’s degree. No, these two words "kings" and "priests" describe what these 144,000 beings will be doing, how they will be spending their time.

Kings rule over people! Kings give instructions and laws. In the millennium kings will tell people how to live. They will teach and explain what is right, and what is not right. Kings will be responsible for seeing to it that the laws of God are implemented amongst all the people over whom they are kings. And all the people over whom these kings rule will be expected to look to their own kings for leadership, guidance and direction. They are not expected to look for leadership to someone who is king over other people. No, they will look to their own kings for all leadership.

Priests intercede before God the Father on behalf of people who have sinned, for people who have in some way fallen short of the goal or target that God has set before mankind. There is no priesthood in the absence of sins, because in the absence of sins there is no need for any intercession. So when all sins come to an end, when never again anyone sins, then the concept of a priesthood will become extinct.

From the time of the new heaven and the new earth onwards, when all the former things have "passed away" (see Revelation 21:4), then there will no longer be any priests, and there will be no priesthood. Even the priesthood of Melchizedek will have come to an end. People misunderstand Hebrews 7:17.

The Greek expression "eis ton aiona" here really means "for the age". Like biblical Hebrew, so also biblical Greek did not have a word that meant exclusively "for ever". This is discussed in the short article "Ecclesiastes 1:4" in the "Mistranslated Scriptures Articles" directory on my website, and also in the longer article "A New Heaven and a New Earth" in the "General Articles" directory.

Jesus Christ will only be a priest "after the order of Melchizedek" until the end of the 100-year period which is added to the millennium for those in the second resurrection (see Isaiah 65:20). When God creates the new heaven and the new earth, then all those in the first resurrection will cease being priests, and Jesus Christ’s Melchizedek priesthood will likewise end.

Now the fact that those in the first resurrection will be priests, in addition to being kings, tells us that during the millennium human beings will still sin. They will still at times fall short and miss the target, as far as their conduct, actions and attitudes are concerned. And at those times they will need someone to be "an intercessor" for them; i.e. they will need a priest.

So here is the point:

During the millennium all human beings outside of the area of Israel will have their own kings. Those kings will be spirit-born sons of God, members of the 144,000 in the first resurrection. All of them will be God beings.

We are used to the concept of having two names: a first name and a last name (or family name). For example, the parents and all of the children in the Smith family have their own individual first names. But they all share the last name "Smith".

In the God Family every individual will also have a unique "first name", as it were. There may in fact be several "first names" for every member of God’s Family. But all members of the Family will share the "last name" of the Family, which last name is "God". In Old Testament Hebrew that last name for members of the God Family is "Elohim".

All of the people in the first resurrection will be named "Elohim" as their family name. And all of them will "reign"; they will all rule over mortal human beings. And those human beings will be expected to look to their own kings for teachings and instructions regarding how to apply God’s laws in all of their daily circumstances.

And when those human beings sometimes fall short and sin, as they surely will, then their own kings will fulfill the role of being their priests, the ones who intercede for them before God the Father. Sins can be due to foolishness, to ignorance, to a lack of discernment, to impulsiveness, in addition to at times being due to a resentful, hostile attitude. But not all sins involve a wrong attitude.

All of the sins that are due to any cause, other than a rebellious attitude towards God, will be freely forgiven upon repentance. The process will be that the priests will intercede before God the Father for the people over whom they are ruling as kings. Combining the roles of kings and priests means that for mortal human beings during the millennium everything in life can be taken care of "in house" as it were, or perhaps better called "in kingdom".

The kings will be doing the ruling and the teaching, and guiding their subjects towards salvation. And when their subjects fall short, then the kings will function in their capacity as priests, and deal with those situations as well. It will be one spirit being that will deal with a group of human beings for all aspects of their lives ... and that spirit being will be the specific king and priest over those specific people.

Now let’s look at Micah 4:5 again.

The contrast here is between "us" and "all people". "We" refers to the nations of Israel during the millennium, and "all people" refers to all other nations at that time.

This chapter describes some of the conditions that will exist during the millennium. The verb "walk" refers to how people conduct their lives. "Walk" is not the same as "worship". "Walk" refers to the standards of conduct and behavior. So the people "walk" in the name of their particular Elohim, but they "worship" Jesus Christ at Jerusalem.

So the contrast presented in this verse is:

The nations of Israel (i.e. "we") will receive their leadership, teachings and instructions from Jesus Christ, who is their "Elohim". With David as king over all of Israel, and with the 12 apostles as 12 kings each over one of the tribes of Israel, the nations of Israel will be in close geographic proximity to Jerusalem. Just how much Jesus Christ will be involved in the daily lives of the human Israelites, as opposed to the 12 apostles and David being involved in those lives, remains to be seen.

All the other nations (i.e. "all people") will receive their leadership, teachings and instructions from whichever spirit being is their king. And their own king will be their "Elohim". During the millennium there will be 144,001 Elohim on earth.

Now lest you get the wrong impression here, let’s look at Revelation 14:4.

The expression "these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes" tells us that every single individual in the first resurrection is totally and unconditionally submissive to and responsive to the leadership of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, in turn, has total and unreserved confidence in the competence and the integrity of every "king" under His leadership.

So the kings over "all people" have a certain degree of autonomy over the areas where they reign as kings. These kings will most likely receive lots of guidance and input from Jesus Christ and His team at Jerusalem. But the people over whom these kings will rule need not be aware of every "conference of kings" that will take place, and of what was presented at those "kingly conferences".

The people just need to look to their own kings for all leadership. Their kings will be real kings, and not just puppets who do nothing more than pass on whatever was given to them. The kings will originate ideas and thoughts, to lead their people towards salvation in the best possible ways. And they will do so with Jesus Christ’s full approval.

I suspect that almost every king over "all people" will have some human beings in his jurisdiction that will never come to repentance. They will outwardly obey every instruction they are given, but their hearts will not be right before God. And such individuals will then become a part of the huge multitude of rebels that Satan gathers together from "the four quarters of the earth" (see Revelation 20:8) after the 1,000 years have expired. But that is not our subject in this article.

But apart from those rebels "all people will walk every one in the name of his Elohim", the spirit-born son of God "king" who was placed over them by Jesus Christ. That’s what it will be like during the millennium.

Micah 4:5 really does mean exactly what it says.

Frank W Nelte