Micah 7:18 Who is a God like to you, that pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?… Micah and Isaiah were contemporaries. They lived in the same land, they lived in the same city; they ministered, we may say, to the same congregation, and they preached the same Gospel. They were very unlike in some respects, so far as we can judge from the remnants of their ministry they have left behind them. Isaiah was, perhaps, the most eloquent man that God ever made, and He made him for the most splendid of service. Long ago, , the great Latin scholar, in translating into the Vulgate these books, said of Isaiah that he was the evangelical prophet, and ever since that day the Church of Christ in all her branches has subscribed to that striking description of Isaiah. Micah, again, would seem to be a man of different kind, with a full equipment of spiritual experience. His sayings are short and penetrating; not so captivating to the mind, it may be, as Isaiah's eloquence, but piercing and penetrating to the understanding and conscience and heart of all who heard him. We have an epitome of his ministry in these closing verses, a summary of his lifelong service of God and Jerusalem. "Who is a God," he says, "like unto Thee?" He begins to speak to the people, but forgets the people in the presence of God and His glorious grace, and he makes his sermon begin with a doxology, a cry of wonder, an astonishment at the grace of God. It is not written, but I can read it — I am as sure of it as if it had been written — that many a time before he exclaimed, "Who is a God like unto Thee?" he said, "Who is a sinner like unto me?" No man ever is amazed at the grace of God till he is confounded with his own sin. There is a thrill of astonishment and amazement at the grace of God that has borne with him for so long and fruitless a ministry and so sinful and unsanctified a life. There may be an allusion, as allusions run up and down all the prophets, comparing the God of Israel with the gods of the nations round about. The form of the exclamation is, no doubt, taken from that which was a continual debate between the prophets of Israel and false prophets and false gods of the nations round about. They had their gods — he admits that in a kind of way for argument's sake — but he turns and says, "Who is a God like unto Thee?" What priest of Baal or Ashtoreth has a god like unto the prophet Micah? They had their gods of war and their gods of wine; gods of love, gods of the woods, gods of the streams, gods of the seas, gods of the storm clouds; but never did any prophet outside of Israel say, "Our God pardoneth iniquity." The thing that astonishes him is that God forgives iniquity. "He pardoneth iniquity." Rabbi Adam Duncan, the great Hebrew professor, a man of genius and a saint, if there has been one in our day in Scotland, one day was tottering along the street to his class. A wag of a fellow came out of the door of one of the clubs in Edinburgh: and thought he would have a joke out of the old Doctor, a story to tell. "Well, Doctor, any news the day?" "Oh, great news," says the Doctor, with his blazing eyes; "great news, sir." It staggered the youngster. He said, "What is it, Doctor?" He thought it was some revolution, some tremendous thing that had not come to their ears in the club yet. But, says the Doctor, laying his hand on the youth's shoulder, "the blood of Christ still cleanseth from all sin." There is grace in the grammar, he pardoneth iniquity. He does it now. The school boy will tell you this is the present tense. It is not that He pardoned in Micah's day, but His grace is dried up this day; or will pardon some time again when there is more prayer and preparation and faith; but He pardons now — He pardons here. This is the joy of the Gospel; this makes it fresh every morning; this makes every minister experimental and autobiographical, because he can say, like Rabbi Duncan, "Come all ye people, and I will tell you what God has done for my soul this very morning; He pardoneth iniquity — things you would rather drown yourself than hear it ever said you had done; He pardoneth it, and you will go home clapping your hands, and saying, 'Who is a God like unto Thee?'" We need many things, but first pardon. If you went into your prison and some man lay waiting execution, and you said, "What can I do for you, my man? I have influence with the magistrates, the Government, the King — what can I do?" He would reply, "Get the rope off my neck, get that scaffold taken away, and then there may be other things you can do; but get my pardon, and get it quick." And therefore it is in the forefront of the message to you and me, when we wakened this morning. There is a note of the Passover there. He passeth by, He does not see it, He does not want to see it. "He retaineth not His anger forever." He is angry, mind you. He is maybe very angry with you here this morning. I am quoting Goodwin, but I am in a good atmosphere. He says: "The conscience is a little window in the soul through which God throws in a coal of hell fire to let a man taste beforehand what it will be to make his bed in hell." You say, some fine, young gentleman, that there is no fire in hell. Wait and see! Says Goodwin again: "Hell is not culinary fire." There were sceptics in his day, too, and he said: "Oh, no, not kitchen fire; quite right. You know better than the apostles and prophets and the Master Himself. It is not culinary fire — that could be put out. But I will tell you what cannot be put out, remorse." But though He is angry for a little season, He delighteth in mercy. It is worth travelling across the country just to say that to a fellow sinner. Our Maker and Judge and Redeemer, He delighteth in mercy. It is never said He delighteth in anger. It is against His nature, but mercy is His very innermost nature. If the devil casts my sins in my teeth, I will say, "Yes, it is all true, and you cannot tell the half of it, but I have to do with One who delighteth in mercy." "He delighteth in mercy." He enjoys it, it is His nature, and you can satisfy His mercy as, maybe, no one else can. There may be some sin in your case that makes you a peculiar sinner, and makes you a peculiar ornament to the grace of God to all eternity. "He will turn again." Has He left you? Have you sinned away the peace of God out of your conscience? But He will turn again. He is, maybe, turning this moment. "He will have compassion." Samuel Rutherford was once at the Communion season talking to the elders after the people were away, and said, "Now, we have been preaching about justification today; whether do you think you will be more thankful in heaven for justification or sanctification?" None of them spoke; then an old man said, "Mr. Samuel, we'll thank Him for baith." So we will thank Him, some of us, "for baith," for a pardon that passeth all understanding, and for a sanctification of sinful hearts rotten to the core and running over with all manner of sin. (A. Whyte, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. |
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