Sermon: The Great Ruler From Little Bethlehem

if you have a Bible would love to invite you to turn to Micah chapter 5 page 778 if you are using the Bible there in your Pew John Calvin the 16th century reformer wrote that in all of the Bible. There is one aim and purpose. to truly know Jesus Christ and the infinite riches that are comprised in him and are offered to us by him from God the Father. He goes on to say that if one were to sift through the law and the prophets he would not find a single word.

Which would not draw and bring us to him. All of the scriptures point to and reveal Jesus sometimes in the law and the prophets you have to sift down to some pretty small granules to find this Rich treasure like a five is not such a passage. As we look through our series on the Book of Micah we come to what will be likely very familiar words to many of us. apps a very unfamiliar time of year We read these words. I think every year on Christmas

Eve tonight. We're going to look at them here in July. We are presented in Micah chapter 5 with a large glittering beautiful nugget of precious Divine truth Illuminating Our Savior Jesus Christ, and I am excited tonight to gaze at that with you before we do, so, please pray with me. So we ask for God's help.

Oh great Shepherd of the sheep. Would you be merciful to feed us by Your Word tonight to nourish and provide for us. Would you do what Kelvin says the aim of scripture is would you help us tonight to truly know Jesus Christ? The infinite riches that are comprised in him and are offered to us by him from God the father. Would you draw and bring us to him? As we hear from you tonight in Christ's name. amen Micah chapter 5

now muster your troops. Oh daughter of troops. Siege is laid against us. With a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. but you Oh Bethlehem, ephratha. Who are too little to be among the clans of Judah? From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel? Whose origin is from of old from ancient days? Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth. Then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel

and he shall stand and Shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord. In the Majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure. For now, he shall be great to the ends of the Earth. And he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land and Treads in our palaces, then we will raise up against him Seven Shepherds and eight princes of men. Shall Shepherd the land of Assyria with The Sword and

the land of nimrod at its entrances and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and Treads within our border. Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like do from the Lord like showers on the grass, which delay not for a man or wait for the children of man. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations in the midst of many people's like a lion among the beasts of the forest.

Like a young lion among the flocks of sheep. Which when it goes through Treads down and tears and pieces and there is none to deliver. Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries and all your enemies shall be cut off. And in that day declares the Lord I will cut off your horses from among you and will destroy your chariots. We'll cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds and I will cut off sorceries from

your hand and you shall have no more tellers of Fortune. And I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you. You shall bow down no more to the work of your hands and I will root out your ashra images from among you and destroy your cities and in anger and wrath. I will execute Vengeance on the Nations. That did not obey.

in the first three chapters of Micah he pronounces judgment. And destruction and then we come in chapters 4 last week and five tonight to a series of prophecies and pronouncements that one commentator summarized as being marked by a contrast. between present distress and Future Hope verse 1 of chapter 5 orients us to the specific historical context of the present distress in which Micah is writing. Israel as a nation has been in Fairly consistent decline

for about 200 years at this point. Following the high water mark under King David and his son Solomon. Starting with the collapse and and the division of the nation into a north and a South. The spiral downward was precipitated mostly. By consistent Disobedience to God with brief reprieves of renewal. But now Jerusalem finds itself under siege. Assyria the power of the day Has already swept through. Defeated that the northern nation of Israel and led them

into exile. Worked its way through most of Judah and now Jerusalem seems next. A city is surrounded can read about this in Isaiah 36 through 39 or 2nd Kings 18. It's a dire situation. They are on the brink of being destroyed as a nation the Assyrians did not treat kindly those that they defeated they split you up and spread you all over their Kingdom and forced you to intermarry with other nations so that you basically ceased

to exist.

their King Is powerless you can see here? It says that the ruler was struck on the cheek. a sign in ancient times of disrespect and power over someone so Jerusalem her King and her people are outnumbered. And they are being humiliated by their enemies the options that they have. Are seem to be to fight a hopeless battle and probably die. Against a more numerous more powerful better supplied Army. To surrender and live but sacrifice

any sense of national identity. Or wait it out and die of starvation. Not really a good option here. But it's into this situation at this low point in Israel's history. That God through the prophet Micah speaks. I do want us to notice here in verse 1 the US it seems like Micah is in the city with the people going through this as he writes God's word. What God Says is he tells his people not to give up hope He points them to their One and Only Hope for

salvation. So as we consider these verses tonight we're going to do so under three headings three things that God says to his people in the midst of their distress. And I'm gonna argue prophetically to his people through the years today. Verses 1 through 6. God tells his people I will rescue you. Verses 7 through 9. God tells his people I will restore you. And then verses 10 through 15. God tells us people. I will refine you.

Now tells his people I will rescue you. I will restore you and I will refine you. First in the midst of the apparent hopelessness of their circumstances God tells his people that he is going to deliver them. Notice the little word at the beginning of verse 2. I looked it up this week thankful for online searches almost 4,000 times to those three letters appear in the ESV online. Most of them are easily glossed over and don't carry much weight.

but sometimes

this little word but signifies a radical change of perspective. And narrative and this is what we see here. This is what is happening around you but this is what God is working and accomplishing you see this but here is the reality. This is how things were. But now they are like this. You are under siege and your ruler is powerless. But you don't know what I have planned. Let me tell you. I am going to send a ruler who will deliver you.

Consider what we learn about this ruler in these verses the ruler will be from Bethlehem a place too little to be of any real account. You will not be from Jerusalem as the kings of Judah have been for a couple hundred years now. but from Little Bethlehem that might be a little hard for us because this side of the New Testament Bethlehem means something. and the hearts and minds of Christians that holds a significant place but at this time

It would have been a place of no consequence. No one was going to be able to say that this great ruler is the product of the best educational schools or the most Cosmopolitan opportunities. He was not to be made by the political machine in Jerusalem. No one would be able to lay claim to behind his success except God Alone. The king this King will not derive his honor from the place of his birth, but his birth will grant honor to it.

The ruler is not great because of his association with Bethlehem. The reason that Bethlehem is great in our minds now is because of the great ruler who came forth from their and yet there is a reason that it's Bethlehem and not any number of other small towns that could have. Been his birthplace Bethlehem was the home of King David. It connects the future ruler to Israel's glorious past. To the good old days. He will be from of old and hearken

back to days gone by. This ruler will connect not only to David but to the promise that God made to David that God would rule his people through the line of David forever. This ruler will come from Bethlehem which highlights both the insignificant nature of the place on the one hand pointing to God's power. And his tendency to bring strength out of weakness. And on the other hand pointing to the faithfulness of God to his promises of old.

This ruler will come from nowhere and it will mean everything.

God goes on to say that this ruler shall come forth. Perhaps surprisingly it was for me as I was reading through this will come forth for me. Certainly, this ruler will benefit the people but ultimately he is coming forth. for God

he is one who will work toward and accomplish God's will. He will secure the promises of God and the purposes of God. In verse 3 God tells the people that this is going to require some faith. They are going to have to wait. For a time, they will be given over to their enemies. However, he tells them don't lose heart. It is only a temporary time until this ruler comes forth. Both literally and metaphorically there will be labor pains before

this child is born. Verse 4 reveals that once this one is born. He will be to his people a shepherd. Again, like the great King David. This ruler will protect the people you will provide Still Waters and Green Pastures for nourishment. He will guide them in such a way that they will dwell in security and peace. Not just in one place, but wherever they find themselves for they will be in his care for he will be great. To the very ends of the Earth.

And he will do all of this not simply with the strength of man. But with the strength of God and with the majesty and glory of God.

verses 5 and 6 provide a poetic description of what will happen when not if remember there will be a season of being handed over when Israel is possessed by their enemies. Starting at the beginning and the end of verses 5 and 6 and working toward the middle these verses mirror each other. Enemies will tread over the land within the borders and even within the Palaces and important places of Israel. And the people will rise up and the ruler will

deliver them. And he will work through his chosen means princes and Shepherds whom he will raise up and strengthen. 7 and 8 numbers in scripture which point to completeness and surplus he will raise up princes and Shepherds sufficient for the task. Unlike the leaders of Judah that we have read about earlier in Micah who have been reprimanded and condemned these Shepherds and princes will be faithful to God and to the people.

However, unlike the nurturing protecting providing shepherding of the flock. This will be the shepherd dealing with the wild animals that would threaten his sheep. Rather than the staff and the rod the sword will be his chosen instrument for the enemies of his people.

What are contrast this ruler is? To the one that we met in verse 1 the humiliated impotent current leader of this nation.

Things are not good right now. But God says through Micah you are still my people. My promises still remain. a steadfast love and faithfulness endure I will rescue you. For a time I will hand you over to your enemies, but do not lose heart be prepared because there will come a day when a ruler will come forth who will rule in my name for my purposes in my strength and will deliver you and defeat your and my enemies.

There is much more that I want to say about that ruler and that time but we will come back to him and we need to move on. In verses 7 through 9 Micah continues he tells his people when the ruler comes. I will restore you. He's already said I will rescue you and now he says I will restore you. I've already seen a hint of this in the second half of verse 3 when the rest of his brothers shall return. When this ruler Comes The Remnant Who Remain

will be United under his leadership. And this Remnant is described using two similes. They will be like the Dew. and like the lion first like the Dew and showers on the grass. The Dew was a gift from God especially in a dry place like Israel each morning for the nourishment refreshment and fruitfulness of the land. rain and do The very notable exception of Noah and the flood are blessings from God. Well drought is a curse.

Do and Rain were nothing that man could engineer or control in the same way this Remnant existed by the power and Providence of God Alone. And they were going to dwell in the midst of many people's small by comparison. It would seem as a source of refreshment and blessing to the Nations. in contrast verse 8 Compares this remnant among the Nations to a lion amongst flocks of sheep. The lion goes where it wants and does what it wants with nothing to stop it.

Again The Remnant will be small fewer than the many pieces of peoples. But will far surpass them in power and might their adversaries will be cut off and at the mercy of the people of God. God is saying that he will restore his people. Not simply Gathering and reuniting them as a people but restoring them to who they were meant to be. We looked at how this ruler connects to the promises made to David, but we need to go back further.

And look at the promise he made to Abraham back where Israel could trace their Beginnings in history as a nation. In Genesis 12. God says to Abraham. I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. So that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And him who dishonors you I will curse. In in you all the families of the Earth shall be blessed. Israel was always meant to be

God's representative among the Nations extending his blessings and being an instrument of his judgment. As the Dew and the lion they would be restored to their rightful place in the world.

this restoration, however Doesn't start with the external relationship of his people to the Nations. But with the internal character and nature of the people themselves. We have seen that God is faithful and that he is powerful, but he is also holy. And for the sake of his name he wants there to be no doubt in the minds of his people or in the testimony to all the world who is responsible for their rescue. And for the sake of his people that they may rest in

him, he is unwilling to leave them in their sin or suffer them placing their trust in lesser things. And so he says in verses 10 through 15, I will refine you Israel is in their current situation. primarily because of their Disobedience to God and the only way out will be dependence on God. Dependence on him alone. And so God in his Mercy when this ruler comes promises to refine his people. horses and chariots that they might trust in

destroyed cities and strongholds thrown down sorceries and fortune tellers No more. carved images pillars the work of their own hands which they bow down to rooted out Whether it be relatively neutral things such as instruments of war and walled cities or explicitly outlawed things such as sorcery. Or Idols anything that takes the place of God in the hearts of his people anything in which they trust into which they look for. Peace and hope must be

and will be cut off. He will be their peace. and him alone

Chapter 5 concludes in verse 15 by declaring that God will execute his Vengeance on the Nations. We see that God's righteous anger and wrath will be directed towards disobedience. In both his people and in the nations of the world that refuse obedience to him.

Brings us to the end of tonight's passage in the midst of distress. God has reminded his people that he is faithful that he is powerful. He is Holy and he promises to rescue And to restore and to refine his people as well as to judge the Nations under which they are currently suffering.

But before we finish with Micah 5 we need to pull these verses forward through history.

Prophecy in the Bible often has multiple layers of fulfillment and that is the case with this text. So I want us to consider for a few minutes. How God has continued to speak through these words over time?

God did indeed give his people up for a time for a long time actually. While he delivered his people from the specific Siege of the Assyrians, they were defeated by the Babylonians and carried off to Exile. Even when they were allowed to return to their own land they were always under the rule of other nations. 700 years after the events of Micah 5 almost 600 years after Judah was conquered and brought into Exile by Babylon Nations

having come and gone Rome being the current world power that claimed Judah among its borders. God moved in the heart and mind of the Roman Emperor. to conduct a census so that it just the right time. A young pregnant woman would have to travel away from her hometown to a little place. Called Bethlehem. And it would just so happen that while she was there the time came for her to give birth so that her son. Would be born in that little town of Bethlehem.

the gospel of Matthew recounts that when the word began to spread that something had happened and the wise men came to Jerusalem looking for this newborn king the Jewish religious leaders of the day were consulted and they quoted this sermon from the prophet Micah And so it was that after 700 years of waiting for this ruler to come forth. One day he did. Came to rescue his people. Not from a Syria a Syria didn't exist anymore from

something deeper than simply an invading Army see a Syria was just a placeholder a representative of the enemies of God's people. Assyria had been Egypt and then it became Babylon and later became Persia and eventually Rome, but even these were simply symptoms of a deeper divide and hostility. Sin was and is the true enemy of God's people. And of all people whether they recognize it or not. It is the source of all suffering and sorrow and ultimately of

death and destruction. And sin has enslaved every human heart, but Jesus. Came forth as the ruler to rescue his people. Jesus from Bethlehem Who came to do the will of God to secure the promises of God and to accomplish the purposes of God? Jesus who in the strength of God exercise miraculous authority over creation. He came forth. He was born and yet he was from ancient days. In fact, he was from before days. He was the Eternal Son of

God. He is the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep taking upon himself the sin and death you deserve so that you could be reconciled to God so that you could know peace and dwell insecurity. All of the promises that God made in Micah 5 find their yes and amen in Jesus. You were enslaved to sin and death. But God the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2. But God being rich in Mercy because of his great love which he loved us. Even when

we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by Grace you have been saved. Sin, ruled and reigned all mankind was under judgment. But God sent the ruler from Bethlehem. The Good Shepherd the Prince of Peace the Savior for the whole world. The one who has defeated all the enemies of God and his people even sin and death. This Jesus Who Rose victoriously and reigns with all power and authority. He has gathered a people to himself.

He has called men and women out of every nation. He is continuing to refine his people through the power of His Spirit. He continues to work through his people to spread his Blessing to All Nations to fight evil like a lion among a herd and to offer the Dew of Salvation to all who will listen.

Some they are the aroma of life. others the aroma of death This people are his body his bride the church. They are not Mighty in themselves, but consequential because of their Association and connection with the great ruler from Little Bethlehem. They are scattered among the people's we are scattered among the people's we're outnumbered but never overpowered. And Victorious such that even the Gates of Hell shall never Prevail against us.

Are you part of this people? Do you know this King? As your deliverer have you looked upon him in worship as the Shepherds did the night of his birth? There is no other hope he is the ruler he will rule over you it will either be with the rod and the staff or with a sword. There is no greater question all your life than whether you are submitting to the rule of Jesus or disobeying him. If you do not know where you stand with him, I would

plead with you to not rest until you do.

We need to consider this passage and one more light. What does this prophecy have to say to us? Almost 3,000 years later 2,000 years after this ruler from Bethlehem burst onto the scene.

In one sense this side of the Incarnation of Jesus everything is different from Jerusalem in Micah's day. rather than God saying I shall he speaks to you brothers and sisters and says I have Have rescued you. Have restored you. I have refined you. You are a new creation you who are not a people are now my people you who are slaves to sin are now free in Christ.

and yet there is still a striking relevance to Michael's words today.

Do you ever feel like the Church of Christ is under siege? Maybe in general in the world. But thinking specifically about our context here in East Lansing, Michigan. Do you feel like Christians are viewed with scorn and slapped on the cheek as it were. Do you feel like all around their enemies that would love nothing more than to see the people of God at least the faithful manifestation of the people of God disappear from the

face of the Earth. Do you feel outnumbered in your neighborhood your workplace in your school? Maybe even in your family.

This is increasingly the reality that we face in this time and place and it can be tempting to despair. You may despair over the state of our culture looking at how things are trending. Maybe spending too much time on Twitter you have little hope for the future. You may despair over the state of the church. It may seem that all around you hear about moral failings and Scandals divisions worldliness or false teaching. And you have little hope for the future.

There's also the temptation to hedge our bets and to devise our own methods of survival. Maybe you're tempted to attach yourself to personalities who share your policy ideas, but not your faith. Trusting in the horses and Chariots of Egypt to come and save you from the Assyrians. You may be tempted to compromise with the culture. Maybe just a little on sexuality or another topic raising just a little Ash or a pole here or there to find

some common ground. Maybe tempted to withdraw from the world and isolate yourself and your loved ones building big walls and staying secure inside your fortified cities.

faithful obedience to Christ will look different for different people and in different contexts, but there is no hope outside of the ruler in Bethlehem And while there is certainly room for lament and mourning over things we see in the world or church. There is no place for despair in the life of the Christian. No, Christian should ever ring their hands over what will happen to themselves or to the world? because we know

like Micah and his audience. We have a promise. We are waiting to we are waiting for the ruler who came forth from Bethlehem. to come forth on the clouds and with the sound of a trumpet he has come and rescued and restored and refined his people. But there is a day coming when he will finish the job. you his people will be rescued not only from the power of sin and death but fully from its devastating consequences. You will be restored not as a scattered

people but in the congregation of all the righteous. And you will be refined. Not simply righteous through Christ, but free from even the lingering presence of sin which entangles so frustratingly in this life. It has been promised and it will happen. As sure as his birth at Christmas is his return in glory. one day

just like for the Israelites after 700 years. It happened one day it will happen.

So if we want to know what will happen to us in the world? We will continue to face adversity and affliction. God tells us through Micah. But God will save us. He will raise up sufficient resources for the task and he will ultimately come back to bring his children to glory and to judge the disobedient Nations. Martin Luther in his hymn said it this way. This world with Devils filled will threaten to undo us? We will not fear for God has willed his

truth to Triumph through us you can depend on it you can live in light of it. What Enemy Within or without could possibly touch you? What fleeting pleasure could possibly tempt you? What temporary trial could possibly rob you of joy and peace and security? Jesus is with you. Jesus is for you. Nothing can separate you from the love of God through Jesus his son. What a promise. What a ruler. what a God Surely it is good news of great joy, that

is for all the people. That this ruler from Bethlehem has come. And is coming again O come let us adore him. Do you pray with me?

father feels like words are insufficient for the glory of speaking of your son. Would you give us insight and understanding would you help us to see clearly with the eyes of faith? Would you illuminate To Us by your spirit? Who You Are what you have done? Who we are because of that. Would you strengthen us to live Faithfully in this day? Eagerly awaiting the day of your promised return would you come quickly Lord Jesus?

In the Name of Christ we pray amen.