Wicked scales make the Gospel of Christ too heavy to lift.

Micah 6:9-16

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

“The Lord’s voice cries to the city—Wisdom will see Your name: “Hear the rod! Who has appointed it?” Micah 6:9

This verse can also be spoken in this way, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10 The phrase, “Hear the rod! Who has appointed it?” refers to the rod of judgment coming against Israel today, and God claims credit as the answer to the question, “Who has appointed it?” God claims credit for the conflict coming against the State of Israel today, as spoken in Ezekiel 22:19-22, “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As men gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the midst of a furnace, to blow fire on it, to melt it; so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst. As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have poured out My fury on you.’ ”

“Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is an abomination? Should I count pure those with the wicked scales, and with the bag of deceitful weights?” Micah 6:10-11

The treasures spoken about is the Holy Spirit within us, which comes through Jesus Christ, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you…” 1 Corinthians 6:19 The Jewish people do not serve God through Jesus Christ and are not living in the presence of the Holy Spirit. In that light, being void of faith in Jesus Christ, making the Jewish people desolate of the Holy Spirit, they are wicked in the eyes of God. “[Paul] said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Acts 19:2-5

In the days of the Bible, scales were used to measure one type of product to another, and when the scales balanced it was an even trade. This would be like two people on a “teeter totter”, if one person is lighter than the other, then the heavy side of the teeter totter would lay flat, unless given a little push. The “push” used on the scales would be like tying a wait on the side of the light person to make it heavy enough to balance the weight.

If a person was weighing oil against figs, the weight on one side of the scale would be adjusted so that the scales would balance when a certain amount of oil would even out to the worth of the figs. The “wicked scales” is when somebody would adjust the weight of the scale so that it would require much more figs to raise the scale to balance to the amount of oil on the other side of the scales. The Jewish people have wicked scales regarding the word of God because they have made the weight on the side of the Gospel of Christ so heavy that the Jewish people can never raise up Jesus Christ because of living by the laws of Judaism. Jesus said this about the scribes and Pharisees, “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” Matthew 23:4

Should the Lord call it even when “wicked scales” are used, of course not, and that is why He brings His judgment to those who make the Gospel of Christ too heavy to lift up. This is to make the testimony of our born-again experience in Christ too heavy to share [Our born-again experience is the Gospel written on our heart].

“For her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.“ Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you; by making you desolate because of your sins. You will eat, but not be satisfied; Hunger will be in your midst. You may carry some away, but will not save them; and what you do rescue I will give over to the sword. “You will sow, but not reap; You will tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.” Micah 6:12-15

The Jewish culture was so corrupt that wealth was gained through “wicked scales” [an uneven playing field between rich and poor]. The rich were using violence to oppress, they habitually lied to maintain and gain wealth, and they were filled with every type of deceit and misdirection. In the days of Jesus, the Jewish people associated wealth with being able to enter the Kingdom of God, which is part of the corruption that Christ came to correct, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:23-26

Our Lord is making the Jewish people desolate because of their “wicked scales” which is their rejection of Jesus Christ, “See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you will see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Matthew 23:38-39 As we see in the State of Israel, the Jewish people are being made sick by the hand of the Lord striking them, the Lord is making them desolate because of sinning against Him. They are eating but are not satisfied with the Bread of Life [Jesus Christ] and hunger of the soul is in their midst. Israel can attempt to save up for their future days, but they won’t have much success in the future that God has in store for them, and what they do rescue will be cut off from them. They sow for their future but will not reap the benefits of their labor. They tread for the production of their Jewish culture but will not be anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit. They make their sweet wine, but they will not drink from a sweet future because they do not drink of the blood of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin.

“For the statutes of Omri are kept; All the works of Ahab’s house are done; And you walk in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing. Therefore you will bear the reproach of the nations.” Micah 6:16

Some of the background of Omri and Ahab is given in 1 Kings 16:21-34. Omri was the father of Ahab, and both were kings of the northern kingdom of Israel. Both did evil in the eyes of the Lord by serving a false god, particularly Baal. Ahab married Jezebel, 1 Kings 16:31, and she massacred the prophets who were faithful to the Living God of Jesus Christ 1 Kings 18:4. Her intent was to make Baal the official god of the land. Jezebel exerted her will onto her husband, Ahab, by using his influence and power to authorize to kill the prophet of God and to take over the land 1 Kings 21:4-16.

Omri, Ahab, and Jezebel lived almost 200 years before Micah, but Israel continued to live against the will of God by serving false gods and turning their back on the Ten Commandments. They kept the policies of Omri, all of the works of Ahab stood over all those years, and they lived by their counsel. By living in the destructiveness of sin, the judgment of God is upheld to make them a desolation. We see this desolation happening in the State of Israel today. Obviously, the whole world has come against Israel, and they are indeed a hissing and a reproach of nations. The sins of Israel are described in the verses of the posts on Micah 1:1, Micah 2:1-2, Micha 2:8-11, Micah 3:1-3, Micha 3:8-12, Micah 4:9-10, and Micah 5:5b-15.

Click here for a post on the Golden Calf from Genesis 32.

The Baal of this world is the false god that has power over physiology to give people what to think, feel, say, and do. This god sets in the temple of God [our body], as if it is God and it exalts itself above anything else and even God Himself. This “Baal” is the one “… who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4 ” The “he” in this verse is the “man of sin”. Click here for a post on the “man of Sin”. This is the one that enlivens the image of the beast to speak and live through people as they are groomed to the mark of the beast by what they are given to say and do.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11