The Fourth Sunday of Advent
December 20, 2015
Micah 5:2-5a
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace. (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Has anyone been feeling a bit frazzled lately? There is so much that still needs to be done and Christmas Eve is only four days away! Because it is so easy for us to get frazzled at this time of the year, it is also very easy for us to lose our focus. Instead of anxiously looking forward to the arrival of Christmas we might be secretly waiting for Christmas to be over!
Whenever we get to a point in our life when we are feeling somewhat frazzled a good thing to do is simply stop and take a deep breath— in through the nose and out through the mouth. Many times simply stopping to take a deep breath can help us regain our focus and give us an opportunity to think clearly once again.
Today, my friends, is our opportunity to take a break from the “busyness” of our life, gather together here in the house of our God and take that deep breath— in through the nose and out through the mouth. In order to help us clear our minds and think clearly once again we are going to turn to the beautiful, comforting, familiar words of our Old Testament lesson for today (Micah 5:2-5a) and see how they proclaim to us our final Advent Imperative— Stay Focused! There are two points we want to take home with us from this text. First let’s see how these words of the prophet Micah encourage us to stay focused on God’s promises. Then let’s see how these words of the prophet Micah encourage us to stay focused on the One who fulfills God’s promises!
The prophet Micah lived and worked about 700 years before Jesus was born. Micah was a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah and in many ways, the major themes of the book of Micah parallel the major themes of the book of Isaiah. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Micah prophesied that “because of the sins of the house of Israel,” because of “Jacob’s transgression,” the Northern Kingdom of Israel would be destroyed by the Assyrians. (See 1:3-7) That prophecy was fulfilled in 722 B.C. when Samaria fell to the Assyrians and the Northern Kingdom was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire never to be seen again.
Micah also prophesied that because the “transgression of Israel” found an all too willing home in Jerusalem, the LORD was going to bring “disaster” on the Southern Kingdom of Judah. This was partially fulfilled when the Assyrians overran Judah after they had annihilated the Kingdom of Israel and it was ultimately fulfilled in 586 B.C. when the Babylonians conquered Judah, destroyed Jerusalem and carried God’s Chosen People into exile.
It is against this dark background that in the verse preceding our text the prophet Micah says to the rulers and the people of Jerusalem, “Marshal your troops, O city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel’s ruler on the cheek with a rod.” It is also against this dark background that the prophet Micah proclaims God’s promise to His people! That promise is found in the opening verse of our text, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
Just when we might think that Micah would go on to describe the destruction that awaits the people and the city of Jerusalem, God has His prophet shift the focus of His people! He shifts the focus from destruction to deliverance by shifting the focus from the proud and mighty city of Jerusalem to the humble little town of Bethlehem. And with that shift in focus God the Holy Spirit has the prophet Micah focus our attention on God’s promises— specifically, His promise to send a Savior into this world to deliver us from the most fearsome enemies of all: sin, death and the power of the devil!
Did you know that there are over 300 Messianic prophesies recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures? Our text for today contains just one, the prophecy concerning where the true Son of God would be born into this world as the true Son of Man. Other prophecies, other promises, include the fact that the Messiah would be a descendant of father Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3). The Messiah would come from the “house and line” of great King David (2 Sam 7:8-16; Luke 2:1-4) and rule over God’s Kingdom forever! (2 Samuel 7:8-16; Luke 1:29-33) God promised that the Messiah would innocently suffer and die to pay for our sins (Isaiah 53:3-6) and then rise to life again to guarantee eternal life to everyone who believes and trusts in Him! (Isaiah 53:10, 11; Psalm 22; John 19 & 20) Over 300 promises, over 300 Messianic prophecies— all fulfilled in just One person, the precious Child born in the humble little town of Bethlehem!
In a book entitled “More than a Carpenter” Josh McDowell says that using the modern science of probability the odds of one person fulfilling just eight of the Old Testament Messianic prophecies is 1 in 10 to the 17th power. That’s a 1 with 17 zeroes behind it! To help us try and grasp how miraculous this is, he uses this illustration, “Take ten to the 17th silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one?” You got it— 1 in 10 to the 17th power!
It would be very good for us to remember that illustration as we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Child who was born in the humble little town of Bethlehem. Why? Because just as the Lord our God faithfully fulfilled the promise He made to His people through His servant Micah, just as the Lord our God has faithfully fulfilled all the other Messianic prophecies that He proclaimed to this world through His prophets, so also Christmas is a very powerful reminder to us that the Lord our God will faithfully fulfill all the promises He has made to you! Such as? Such as the promise that the innocent suffering and death of His Son has completely paid for all of your sins! (Matthew 1:21 & John 19:30) Such as the promise that the physical resurrection of the Lord’s Christ guarantees your physical resurrection from the dead. (John 11:25-26; John 14:19; 1 Corinthians 15) Such as the promise that the Child of Bethlehem has the power to make “all things” work for the “good” of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28) Such as the promise that Jesus is not only preparing a place for us in His heavenly Father’s home, but one day He will come back for us and take us to be with Him so that we can live forever in the glory and perfection of heaven. (John 14:1-6) So, my encouragement to you today is that as you prepare to once again celebrate the fulfillment of the promise that God makes to His people here in Micah 5, the fulfillment of this promise will lead you to stay focused on the One who fulfills all of God’s promises to you!
Who is the One who fulfills all of God’s promises to you? As we turn back to these familiar words of Micah we see four glorious answers to that question. Look at verse two once again. First, the Child of Bethlehem is described as the One who will be “ruler over Israel.” As the spiritual Ruler over all Israel, that is, everyone who has the faith of Abraham living in their heart (see Romans 2:25-29; 4:9-17; 9:6-8), the Child of Bethlehem would inherit “the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end,” as the angel Gabriel told the virgin Mary. (Luke 1:32, 33)
Second, Micah describes the Child of Bethlehem as Someone “whose origins are from of old, from ancient times,” or that could be translated, “from days of eternity.” The Child of Bethlehem is no ordinary Child is He! He is “’Immanuel’— which means ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23). He is the true eternal Son of the Most High God! He is the One who had the right to say to His enemies, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58).
Third, look at verses four and five of our text. The Child whose birth you and I are preparing to celebrate is the One who will “stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.” As the Son of the Most High God, as the eternal “I AM,” the Child of Bethlehem is the Good Shepherd, He is our Good Shepherd. He is the Good Shepherd who provides us with the “green pasture” and the “quiet waters” we need. He is the Good Shepherd who not only lays down His life for us, His sheep, (Pointing to the cross) but He also has the power and the authority to take it up again. (See John 10:14-18) He is the Good Shepherd who leads us and guides us and protects us “in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God”— because He is “the LORD”!
And finally, Micah reminds us that through the Child of Bethlehem we live “securely” because “his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their (our!) peace.” Unlike the Northern Kingdom of Israel, unlike the Southern Kingdom of Judah, unlike all the kingdoms of this world, the Kingdom over which the Christ-Child rules can never and will never be overthrown. (See Matthew 16:13-20) The victory that He won for us on the cross, the victory that He proclaimed to the world on Easter, is a victory that gives us complete perfect peace. Sin, death and the devil have been defeated! (See 1 Corinthians 15:50-58) Through faith in Him (Pointing to the cross) we are at peace with the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, the one and only living God.
If any of us have been feeling a little frazzled lately, if our anxiousness for Christmas to arrive has— for even a second! — been overshadowed with a secret desire for Christmas to be over, then let these beautiful, comforting, familiar words of the prophet Micah remind us to stay focused! Stay focused on all of the wonderful promises that our God has given to us. Stay focused on the One who has fulfilled and will fulfill God’s all promises to us, the precious Child born in a manger in the humble little town of Bethlehem.
To God be the glory!
Amen