Ep. 200. Micah 5-7 | The Ruler From Bethlehem

EPISODE 200

THE RULER FROM BETHLEHEM: MICAH 5-7

The ruler of Israel was going to come from Bethlehem, but his coming forth "is from of old, from ancient days." Jesus was not created. He is the creator. Jesus does not have a beginning. He was from the beginning with God and was God. He is the true shepherd of the people of God, the people of faith. I love these Old Testament prophesies and their fulfillment in Christ. Everything Jesus did was to fulfill what the Scriptures declared. So, this prophecy of the true King being born in Bethlehem was fulfilled by Jesus. We think of baby Jesus lying in the feeding trough of animals. We think of Mary and Joseph and shepherds and animals. We think of the star in the sky and the angels proclaiming the glory of God. But we don't give much thought to the timing of Caesar Augustus' registration that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem at the perfect moment to fulfill all Scripture. Everything fell into place for Mary to be at the time of birth that night. She could not have gone into labor early. God had orchestrated this moment.

Chapter 7 of Micah gives us another text utilized in the New Testament. The godly have perished from the earth. No one is upright. But the prophet speaks a caution to those who would seek to honor God. "The son treats the father with contempt; the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own household." Jesus will use these words to show what a life lived for him would likely look like for those early Jewish converts. Fathers and mothers would become the enemies of their redeemed children. I wonder what sort of Christianity we have had served up to us when the implication is that the world would like us and be gracious to us. What type of shallow Christianity offers up a Jesus that makes friends of believers and nonbelievers alike? Where is the offense of the gospel? Where is the offense of those who follow Christ? Not that we would be arrogant or offensive ourselves, but that the gospel would cast a dividing line between those who have named the name Jesus and those who hate the name.

ADDITIONAL READING: John 1:1-2; Matthew 2:6; Numbers 22:24; Matthew 23:23-24; Deuteronomy 10:12-13; Proverbs 1:10-12; 1 Corinthians 14:33; Matthew 10:21, 35-36; Luke 12:53; Proverbs 24:16; Isaiah 19: 23-25