Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all that is in it! Let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, The Lord from His holy temple.

Micah 1:2

God’s plan was never limited to Israel. His plan was always to save people from every tribe, tongue and nation. His plan will be fully accomplished as seen in Revelation 7:9-10.

This saving of “the nations” or the “peoples,” was not Plan B because Plan A failed when the people of Israel rejected their Messiah (John 1:11).

God intended for the Jews to be a light to the Gentile nations bringing them the truth about Him (Isaiah 42:6, 49:6, 52:10, 60:3; John 8:12; Acts 13:47, 26:23). *

Here the prophet Micah cries out to the “peoples” referring not to all people, but to every people group. He cries out to the “earth and all who live in it” (NIV). And what does Micah say? The Lord God is a witness against us all! “All have sinned” (Romans 3:23). All have broken God’s Law (James 2:10). “All have fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Therefore all are guilty before a holy God no matter how well we stack up against other sinners. This is bad news indeed.

But the prophet Micah is also the one who announced the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem in Micah 5:2. Jesus, the sovereign God of the universe was born in insignificant Bethlehem so He could live, die, and rise from the dead to secure complete and final forgiveness for those He came to save—a people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, who will ever be the Israel of God.

* Many verses (not all) are cited to demonstrate that this is not an obscure doctrine without overwhelming scriptural support.