Micah 4:4

People will not love money any longer. They will not desire the goods that belong to other people. (Look at Micah 2:2.) They will not need to fight in wars to obtain them. They will not need arms for war any longer. They will have no enemies. So they will not be afraid that an enemy might kill them. The earth will produce enough food and fruit. There will be enough fruit trees for each person. Each person will sit under his own fruit trees. The word ‘sit’ gives the impression that there is peace. People will be content with what they have. They will not want more than they need. That is one main thing that Micah writes about (Micah 2:2; Micah 3:1-3; Micah 3:11; Micah 7:3). Each person will sit in peace under his own fruit trees.

Nobody will make the people afraid. It will be like that in the new Jerusalem. People will come to see the new city. That city will be a model for other cities. People will come from all over the earth. They will get to know the new way that people live there. There will be new towns and cities all over the earth. They will be like the new Jerusalem.

There will be no fear any longer. There is fear that comes because of God’s punishment. But that fear will disappear. The nations will trust each other. Then they can destroy the arms that they had used for war. People will lose their great desire for other people’s possessions. All this can happen only when God is the king over all.

What a wonderful world that will be! We might ask how we could be certain about this. Perhaps it is only the dream of a confident *prophet. Micah is confident. But there is only one reason why he is confident. The *LORD who has all power (God) has said those things. He has said that they will happen. The *LORD who commands armies (God) has spoken it with his (the *LORD’s) mouth. That is the reason why Micah is so confident. Micah uses a special name for God here. It is like a name that people would use in war. He calls God ‘the *LORD who has all power’. It can also be ‘the *LORD who commands armies’. The powerful God is speaking. God gave the promise. And it is God who is important. Micah emphasises that fact, rather than the promise itself.

v5 All the nations may walk (live) in the name of their gods. But we will walk (live) in the name of the *LORD, our God. We will walk (live) with him always, for all time.