Come To Bethlehem And See

By Bobby Blakey on December 24, 2021

Micah 5:2

AUDIO

Come To Bethlehem And See

By Bobby Blakey on December 24, 2021

Micah 5:2

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, 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 coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” That is a prophecy written by Micah seven hundred years before Jesus was born. And I want to study that prophecy with you right now. So, if you've got a Bible, please open it up to the book of Micah. Hopefully you can find the book of Micah. And we can open up to Micah 5:2, because we're going to look at the prophecy. And we're going to see it in the context of the entire work that Micah writes. And this is seven hundred years. So, I want to throw up a little chart here, and Micah is a prophet at the same time as Isaiah; they are contemporaries, and what's happening in the world at this time, is Assyria is going to come and take out the northern kingdom of Israel. They're going to try to take out Judah. And that's what's going on in the world, and both Isaiah and Micah are prophesying. And we know if you look at Micah 1:1, just to go through the context here with me, he lists the kings of Judah during the time that he's a prophet. So, we know that's over seven hundred years before Jesus was born. We just read a prophecy that from Bethlehem Ephrathah would come forth one who would be the ruler in Israel. We know his name to be Jesus. And I'm telling you that was written down seven hundred years beforehand, by this guy, Mikah, who's prophesying. And really the context, look at Micah 1:3, “For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.” So, the context of this book is, God is going to come down on the earth, and he's going to tread on all their sin and idolatry. And he's going to tread like, he's going to walk through their towns in judgment. And God is coming down, and he's coming to town, and he's going to judge. And what it goes on to do is it goes on to mention many of these small little towns in the area known as Judah, the southern kingdom there in Israel. For example, look at verse 10. And you'll see maybe you've never heard of these towns before. But these are small towns in Judah, and it says, “Tell it not in Gath, weep not at all in Beth-le-aphrah roll yourselves in the dust. Pass on your way, inhabitants of Shaphir in nakedness and shame.” And it goes on, it talks about Zaanan and Beth-ezel and Maroth and all these different places. And it's talking about how bad things are going to happen to them. So, it's using word play. It's using puns. It's like saying, Fountain Valley is not going to be a nice place to live anymore. That's the kind of stuff that it's saying like Westminster is going to go south, you watch out. People won't even be standing in Stanton anymore. Like, that's the kind of wordplay that's going on here. It's like when it says there in verse 10, Beth-le-aphrah, it's like house of the dust. It's like, oh, if you live there, you're going to be rolling in the dust when judgment day comes. So, it's saying, hey, these little towns and what's going to happen when little towns when Assyria comes in, if you live in a little town, you're not going to stay there and fight the enemy. When a foreign invader comes and you're in a little town, you're going to go up to the big city, where there's the best hope of defense, you're going to go to Jerusalem.
And so, if you go ahead to Micah 4:8, you would expect that they're going to get saved in Jerusalem. I mean, that's big city. That's where the temple is, oh, that's where the victory is going to come from. And it talks about Jerusalem here in Micah 4:8, it says, “And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, the former dominion shall come, kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.” So, it's saying now that people are going to rally into Jerusalem, and Jerusalem will be restored like in the former days. Well, what were the former days like? The days of King David and his son, King Solomon. Yeah, there's going to be a great time in Jerusalem once again, but that's not really the end of the story, because if you keep reading, it says there in Micah 4:10, “Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country. You shall go to…” Anybody see what it says? Babylon. It’s a prophecy that after Assyria is the world power and comes through, Babylon will actually come through and they will destroy Jerusalem. As it is known, so there is going to be a rallying time in Jerusalem, but then there's going to be destruction from Babylon. That's why now hopefully that gives you a little bit of context. So, when God speaks to Bethlehem, and Bethlehem is one of those little towns, when the only claim to fame from Bethlehem, which means house of bread, Ephrathah, which means fruitfulness. The only claim to fame this little town has? King David was born there. I mean, there's Bethlehem going all the way back, you could read about Bethlehem in Genesis. Rachel dies in this area of Ephrathah. You could read about it with Ruth and Boaz, that happens in Bethlehem. But this is just a little town. The only thing they're famous for is King David came from there. But now there's a prophecy that the salvation of God's people, it's going to come from one of these little towns in Judah. In fact, you Bethlehem, from you shall come forth, one who is the ruler of Israel, just like in the days of old.
So, this is an epic prophecy that we're here to talk about, that God gave a word through Micah that a little town, not the place you would expect the Savior, that king to be born, it was in that little town, and God said it seven hundred years beforehand, through the prophet Micah. And we know it is verifiable that Micah wrote this down, and it was spread all around. The Dead Sea Scrolls prove this that his prophecy was already widely circulated before Jesus was born on Christmas morning. So, this is a real bona fide prophecy. We all have a place that we came from, we all have the hometown we were born in, can you imagine somebody seven hundred years beforehand, prophesying where someone would be born? I mean, that's mind boggling to try to really think about that, where you're saying where someone's going to be born over seven hundred years beforehand. Like I was trying to put this in a context that we would understand. And I was like, it's like one of our founding fathers here in America, like, I don't know, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington. Let's say George Washington when he's the first President of the United States, let's say he writes down that an angel will come from Millville. Millville is a real town. Who's ever heard of Millville? Anybody heard of Millville? Why did you hear about is anybody know about it? There was a famous person who was born in Millville, Mike Trout, everybody. He's the angel that came from Millville. All right. So, imagine that George Washington said that the greatest baseball player of all time, would be born in Millville. Is that a good analogy for us Americans, we have a real bona fide prophecy here? Like somebody from way back in the past said... See, Bethlehem now is like a famous town. So, it's hard for us to get how obscure and kind of out of the way it was, like you would have said, Jerusalem, not Bethlehem. But that's the whole point. Like God's like, yeah, Bethlehem is just known as the town that David came from. Well, I'm going to do history all over again. Lightning is going to strike twice. And out of that nothing town, I'm going to raise up another ruler, just like the days of old with King David.
Now, that's what I want to take you to is Bethlehem. And I wish we could all go to Bethlehem. Some of us have been there when we got to go on trips to Israel. And it's just a few miles away from Jerusalem where we stay for a large part of our trip. And we get on this tour bus, and we just go a few miles to Bethlehem. It's like going to Seal Beach, it's not that far away. But instead of going by a military base, it's like you go through a military checkpoint, like you're crossing the border just to go from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. And you feel the tension there. In the Jewish territory, the Palestinian territory, there are guys with guns. They're looking at you and you go in, and you're like, wars have been fought on these streets. There's destruction, there's graffiti, and then what they do if you know this, if you've ever been to Israel, they take you to an olive wood shop, which is like the biggest tourist trap on planet earth is what it is. Some of you, maybe you've experienced this before, where basically they are ready to take all your money now and they know how it works. Like you came here because Jesus was born here, and we have all of wood, and we crafted these beautiful nativity scenes. Look at this nativity scene. This is authentic. This is from Bethlehem. He was born here. We made it here. We'll ship it to you anywhere in the world. We'll give it to you, and you're like, oh yeah, I'd like to have that nativity, that would be awesome. That would be amazing. And then they're like, yeah, it'll be $5,000. And then you realize they already knew by looking me, you're not the $5,000 guy. So, what they're doing is they're talking you up here so they can bring you down to the level they've already decided that you really live on, right? And they tell you, we'll give this one. So, you saw the deluxe model, then you saw the awesome model. Now you're looking at a pretty good model, you know what I mean? And they're like, 250. They're hitting you up. 250. And you're like, I'm not going to be a total tourist on this. And you know that everything is for sale there in Bethlehem, you barter about everything. They say, 250, you come back, you're like, 200. Now, they probably made this. I mean, they're probably making still, if you they got you for 200, they're taking you, they're taking all your relatives, they're taking your future inheritance on this, right? But they look at you like, how dare you insult me by going down to 200? Anybody ever been there before, anybody experience this? And when you say 200, they're like, let me get my supervisor, and you're like, whoa, where's this tension coming from? Anyways, that's what happened when I went to Bethlehem. Okay, so it's like, you go there, and you're like, you feel it. Now. It's like this famous place to go. Jesus was born here. And there's this place that you go to called the shepherd's field. And you walk through this field. We were there in the middle of July; it was a hot day. And we walk in, and they take you into this cave. And you immediately realize that all the nativity scenes you ever seen are fake. It wasn't like he was in some nice barn. No, he's in a cave. And you got to stoop down to get into this cave. And there would have been animals. This is like a place of shelter because nobody was willing to offer Mary and Joseph any real place to stay. So, they're over here in a cave with the animals, and the only place they have to lay their baby is in a feeding trough along with all of these animals around them. If you can imagine that those who have had the joy of having a baby, now laying your precious newborn in a feeding trough for animals while the animals are still there around you. And we worshipped Jesus in that place. We were like, wow, he was born in a cave like this. We started singing Christmas songs in the middle of July. And we were like, wow, this is where he was born.
So now Bethlehem is world famous, but when Micah wrote this 700 years before that, it was just known as the little town that David came from. And so, look back at Micah 5:2, because it's speaking to the town just like we've been talking, all these little towns of Judah, you Bethlehem Ephrathah, you're so little to be among the clans of Judah, like almost like, oh, we could just forget you, we wouldn't even need to mention you. You're just a little town. From you, Bethlehem, and here's the key phrase, “shall come forth” And then “for me,” like God is speaking here shall come out of Bethlehem, “for me, one who has to be ruler in Israel.” So, there's going to come forth from Bethlehem, the one that Israel is waiting for to be their deliverer. And now there are other passages that have the same kind of prophecy of “coming forth.”
So, if you're taking notes, a couple of cross references you could write down where there's a prophecy of one coming forth. One would be Isaiah 11:1. And this was written at the same time as Micah, where it says, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. “And when you put these together, that's interesting, because Ephrathah means fruitfulness, so there's going to be some fruit on the Jessie family tree. And does anybody know Jesse is the father of who? David. So, we're talking about the family tree of David is going to have this big old Jesus branch on it, coming forth from the line or the house or the family of David, coming forth will be this branch that's going to bear fruit. That's the prophecy. And in fact, even before … if we could throw that chart back up here on the screen, you can see Isaiah and Micah seven hundred years before Christmas. Well, if we go three hundred years back before that, thousand years, go back to the time of David, David was given this promise from God. This is 2 Samuel 7:12. “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.” So, you can see thousand years before Jesus was born, it would say coming from your line, your descendants, David, there will be one who will establish his kingdom now three hundred years later. We're saying even more specifically, he won't just come from the line or the house of David, he will be born in the same little town that David was born in. So, God has been making these prophecies to David. And then three hundred years later, there are prophecies come in through Isaiah and Micah.
Go back to Micah 5:2; look at it with me again because there's this last line on the prophecy from coming forth from Bethlehem for God, the one who's going to be the ruler of Israel. And it says, “who is coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” Okay, from old from ancient days. Now, some people when they're interpreting Micah 5:2, and they're studying the prophecy, they take these Hebrew phrases here, ancient and from of old, and they talk about how Jesus existed outside of space and time in eternity, how Jesus is one with the Father, and how the son of God humbled himself to be born as a baby. So, they talk about Jesus being the son of God who dwelt in eternity past with the Father. And yes, we can all affirm here on Christmas Eve that Jesus is the son of God. Can I get an Amen from anybody?
He is the eternal one, the one who was who is and to is to come, but I don't think that's what Micah 5:2 is saying. Because if you read the whole context of Micah, this idea like “the days of old, the ancient days,” Micah says this a lot. And he's referring to great things that God has already done in the history of Israel. So, this is what's really amazing about this prophecy. It's amazing that God would call his shot of where Jesus would be born seven hundred years before it happened. But he's actually saying, hey, remember when I brought a nobody from nowhere, and I made him the king of Israel, like I did with David, the ultimate underdog story of all time? Well, just how I brought one king out of a nobody town from nowhere, and made him the king of Israel, I can do that same thing again, just like I did in the days of old. So, God is saying, he's drawing your attention to what he already did in Bethlehem, with David. And he's saying, just like I did it with David, because history is really my story, I can do it again, when my son is born in Bethlehem as well. So, I think the days of old, the ancient days that he's referring to here are three hundred years before. And the phrase is used to refer to different events in the history of Israel throughout Micah.
But Go with me to 1 Samuel 16 and let's go see what happened in Bethlehem in the days of old. If you can turn there in your Bible, 1 Samuel 16:1, this verse actually sounds very similar to what God is saying in Micah 5:2. He says something very similar here in 1 Samuel 16:1. “The Lord said to Samuel”; Samuel is the prophet at this time. This is three hundred years before Micah. “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” Now the people they wanted a King, and God let them have a king, and they had king Saul. And God said, no, I'm done with King Saul, and now I'm going to kill the king for myself, and I'm going to get a king from this little town of Bethlehem. So go to the house of Jesse and you're going to make one of Jesse's sons, you're going to anoint him to be the king of Israel. Now, at this time, nobody knew David as the king, and they knew David as something else. What was David doing at this time? He was a shepherd boy. Okay. And so, David, he's the youngest of the brothers. I don't know if we got any youngest of all the family here today, but David is so overlooked by his dad and his brothers, he is not even invited to the gathering with Samuel where they're going to anoint the next king. He is left out there watching the sheep. They don't even invite little David boy to the party. And so, in 1 Samuel 16:6, it says, “When they came, he looked on Eliab,” so Samuel the prophet looks on Jesse’s oldest son Eliab, and he thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.” This guy I don't know what you look at a guy and you're like, that guy looks like a king. I don't know what makes you think that some kind of Gaston like appearance or something, I don't know what it is, but when Samuel sees this guy he's like, yes, this is the guy. The Lord wants him. And then we get one of the famous lines here in 1 Samuel 16:7, “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Right?
And so, they end up having to say, hey, Jessie, do you have any more sons? And he's like, yeah, I got a son, but he's just the youngest, and he's out there watching the sheep. Well, nobody's sitting down until he comes here. And then it says, in 1 Samuel 16:12-13, “And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, ‘Arise, anoint him, for this is he.’ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.” And if we kept reading about the story of David, 1 Samuel 17 is one of the most famous stories in history. You don't have to be a Christian, you don't have to go to church to know the story of David and Goliath. It is a famous story, the ultimate kind of underdog story, where a young man with big faith in the Lord, with faith in a big God, he looks at this giant and he sees this giant trash-talking the armies of the living God, defying God by the things that he's saying, and David's like, to the King Saul, or to his brothers, like, why isn't anybody going to fight this guy, this guy is blaspheming our God, and nobody's going to go and fight him and shut him up? And so, David volunteers, and he wins one of the great victories in human history, because the battle belongs to the Lord, and David believed it. And he cut off that giant’s head and he became known as king David; he became famous. And God is saying, and just like I did with nobody from nowhere before, I'm going to do that again with my son. Because God loves taking the humble things. God loves taking, not many mighty, not many rich, not many wise, no, God loves taking the things that are despised in the world. And he loves using the nobodys to show that he's the somebody, so that he gets the glory. Can I get an Amen from anybody on that? God loves using young people. God loves using people that are left out by everybody else. God's loves bringing people out of little towns that nobody's ever heard of, so, they can see, wow, that's really a work that God is doing. And God is saying, I had my king David in the days of old, and I've got one who's coming to rule over Israel. I'm going to bring him out of the same little town I brought David out of, and he will reign over all. So, it's really impressive because God is calling his shots seven hundred years before Christmas, but he's using something that already happened three hundred years ago that he already did as like a template for what he's going to do again.
And so, let's get this down for point number one: God wrote this story for you to believe; that is the point of this prophecy. The point of this prophecy is not just facts, or information, and that's what it is, it is facts that Micah wrote that the one who would rule Israel would be born in Bethlehem before Jesus was born there. That is a fact. And the reason there's this prophecy, the reason this is written down, is so that you would believe. That is the point of this sign that God would tell you something seven hundred years before he does it, is God wants you to put your faith in Jesus Christ, and he wants you to worship and adore Jesus this Christmas. The story has a real point to it. And in fact, we have this Moody Handbook of Prophecy we've been encouraging people, we've been having in the bookstore, I think we already sold out of it, but they had this quote, I'll throw it up here on the screen. And the chapter on Micah 5:2, they had this quote that I really enjoyed. Micah’s message creates difficulties for those who assume that predicted prophecy is not possible or likely. It’s very difficult for you to keep not believing in Micah, is basically what it's saying. Like you can't deny this, like people knew before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, people knew that he was going to be born in Bethlehem; it's out there.
And in fact, turn with me to Matthew chapter 2, and we'll see it in action. When the wise men who followed the star from afar, they don't go straight to Bethlehem, they go to the big city, they go to Jerusalem, and they're like, hey, does anybody know where the king was just born? And this is Matthew 2:1, when Matthew is writing the story of Jesus, the good news of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And he uses so much prophecy because he wants to state his case. He wants to prove to you that you should believe in Jesus because of these prophecies. And so, he says, this Matthew 2:1-3, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” That's because when King Herod gets troubled, everybody's troubled. Okay? This is the kind of guy who will make heads roll if he's not happy. And so, wait, there's another king that's been born? King Herod is a terrible tyrant. Oh, this isn't going to go down well. Everybody's like, oh, this is not good. Herod’s our king, and Herod, Matthew 2:4, “and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.” Hey, where is the Anointed One going to be born? These guys are showing up saying he has been born. Where exactly is that going to happen? They have the answer; Matthew 2:5, “They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet’” Micah, and they quote Micah 5:2, “But you, O Bethlehem” in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for “from you shall come” a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel. Like these guys know the answer, wait a minute, we already know where he's going to be born. These guys, they're showing up these wise men from afar. They're saying he's been born. Where could that be? What you already know it's in Bethlehem? But see, nobody goes down there to see him except for the wise men. This is my whole concern of how Christmas works in America these days. It's like people know, yeah, Jesus has been born and they don't even go run and see him. They don't even come and adore him. They don't even go on believing him and put their faith in him. It's like, yeah, there's this big epic story that God's been writing throughout history, and they completely miss it. But even though they know it's right there, that's what happens with Herod, that's what happens with these chief priests, the scribes, they know, oh yeah, he's going to be born in Bethlehem, but only the wise men go and worship him. See that? It's like people know the prophecy. It's out there. Now, the whole point of the prophecy being out there, the whole point of this Bethlehem being in all these songs this time of year is so that you would go and see the baby that's been born, and you would go and adore Jesus. It's for you to believe in him. And only the wise men here get it, and everybody else misses it. And when they realize the wise men aren't coming back to tell them exactly where the baby was, what does Herod do? Does anybody know what Herod does? He sends his soldiers to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem. He goes and murders all the babies to try to kill this newborn king. See, Herod, he's not exactly putting his faith in the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, but he knows that it is true. See? That's why he's killing those babies. These guys, these religious leaders, they don't want to bow the knee to Jesus, they want the power for themselves. But they know he's going to be born in Bethlehem. Here's another verse, you could write down. John 7:42. It says, “Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So, this is a bunch of people, while Jesus is preaching, a bunch of people are debating, is Jesus the one, the Messiah, the Christ? Is he really the son of God, or is he just a prophet? And people are like, well, I don't know he's like this. And they actually use this as an argument why not to believe in Jesus, because they're like, well, we know that the real one, the Christ, he'll be born in Bethlehem, and Jesus comes from Nazareth, so how could he be the one? And they completely … like they know the prophecy, and they miss Jesus. The point of the prophecy is that you would believe in Jesus. Okay?
Christmas is the biggest day that we've got going. My entire life, no other day, at least where we live, no other day of the year, rivals Christmas. This is the one day of the year, it all shuts down. Everybody goes to be with their family. Everybody does something on Christmas, and yet how many people are going to completely miss the point of the whole thing? It's like this epic story is happening, that we're just minor characters coming from our little towns, and this big epic story that God is writing. And people are going to walk around saying they celebrated Christmas, and like Christ is right there in the name the whole time, and they're going to miss the point. I mean, this is famous now that when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, when the prophecy was fulfilled, according to Luke 2:7 when Mary “gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths” there in that cave outside of Bethlehem “and laid him in a manger, because there was no place or no room for them in the inn.” A lot of people are celebrating Christmas. This party is already starting. Right? And now there is no room for Jesus in their Christmas. And I'm here to say to you, hey, please don't miss what Christmas is really all about. Don't miss … God's writing this epic story he's telling you, without where he's going to be born, just like David came from nowhere, Jesus is going to come from there. And here we are. Now, this is Christmas 2021. 2021, from what? Year of what, everybody? The year of our Lord. like the biggest day of the year has his name in it, we're counting down from when he was born. And people are going to say Merry Christmas, and give each other Christmas gifts, and have nothing to do with Jesus. Don't let that be you. Like the whole point of this whole story is to see the gift that you have already been given, that God sent his one and only son, because he so loved you, and whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Like, this is what Christmas is about. And so even people who go to church, they could, oh yeah, I'll drop by church, but then I got to get my recipe done because I’ve got to be over here at this time, because I’ve got to go wrap this gift. And then next thing you know, we're saying Christmas is over and nobody adored Jesus. Nobody sat down and remembered Jesus. They didn't say, hey, can we just all pause and take a moment to remember that when we get to have our family here together today, as we try to hold our loved ones close, as we buy gifts for one another, we were so excited. We can't wait for them to open the gifts so their face will light up like the Christmas tree. Like, we hold our family so close on Christmas, can we just take a moment to acknowledge that the Father sent his one and only son down here as a baby in a manger on Christmas? Like that's a little different than how we think about it. Like Christmas was really about the father and the son being separated, so that Jesus would come to save us. That's what Christmas was about. When we gather together with our loved ones, we should take a moment to acknowledge, can you look at the way that God would love us? Can you look at the way that he called his shots ahead of time? Can you look at the humility of the son of God being born, and there's not even a place where humans live for him to be laid. So, they lay him in a feeding trough for animals, something that all of us would be horrified to do with our babies. That's what God had happen with his one and only son. See, people are going to celebrate Christmas, but they're going to miss Christ. And it's like they know this story. They know he was born in Bethlehem. And it goes right over their heads.
Let's get this down for number two: There is no mass without Christ. There is no mass without Christ, everybody. Let's just make it very clear that the family, the gifts, the celebration, another year to be together, whatever kind of health we have, whatever kind of blessings we're able to share with other people, all of that is the bonus. The real gift cannot be found under the tree because he was in a cave outside of Bethlehem. That's the real gift that we’ve got. That's what it's really supposed to be. Like the center of human history, the center of your story, I would hope the center of your celebration of Christmas, is I'm here to worship Jesus. I'm here to come and adore him. I'm here to remember what life is really all about. See, a holiday was supposed to be a holy day that was set apart for the purpose of remembering something. We're supposed to be remembering the gift that God gave to us and offering our lives and ourselves up to him in response. And instead, now we give gifts to one another and make it about us, rather than Jesus. And so, let's just make it very clear here that people could know that he was going to be born in Bethlehem. They could have wise men from afar show up and say he just was born in Bethlehem, and they don't even take the short trip to Bethlehem to go and see Jesus. A lot of people will have celebrated Christmas, they will have counted down their years from when Jesus came, they will have heard messages about prophecies like Bethlehem, the story will have been right around them their entire life, and yet they will have never opened their eyes to really see it. They would have never really opened the book to really believe it. They would never really change their life to realize it's his story, and I'm just living in it. And I'm going to give my life now to follow Jesus. I'm going to believe and put my faith in him. And it's going to be so close to them. It's going to be like these guys, Herod. Hey, wait, where's he supposed to be born? Oh, we already know, and we missed it. That's how the story of Jesus is going to be for so many people. Please don't let the story of Jesus be like that for you, because Jesus, the fact that God sent him to us. Go back with me to Micah 5 and let's get the rest of it. We’ve got the context kind of leading up to it. But let's not miss what happens after the epic prophesy, the ruler of Israel, who's going to be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, the house of bread, the fruitful place? Well, no wonder it doesn't have these bad names like the other places where they were doing those puns to say bad things were going to happen, this is the place where life is going to come from. And look at the life that he talks about here. Micah chapter 5:3-5, “Therefore he shall give them up until the time,” and we know it was seven hundred years, “when she who was in labor has given birth, then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he,” so now we're talking about the one who's going to be the ruler, “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,” the flock, the sheep, the God's people, “they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and he shall be their peace.” So, when the angels show up, the heavenly host, and they all start singing “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased,” where are they getting that from? Oh, they just read the rest of Micah five, that's what happened. There's going to be one, when this one comes, this guy, he'll be such a great shepherd over God's people, and he will exalt God's name to the highest place. And if you are one of the people under this shepherd, if you believe in the ruler over Israel, if you believe in the king who was born, if you put your faith in Jesus, he is the good shepherd over your life, and the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. And now, he's the shepherd over your soul. See, this is why Christmas gets us excited, because Jesus was born, and Jesus was born, actually, to live the perfect life. That's what we'll talk about on Sunday if you come back. He establishes the perfect life of righteousness, and then he dies in your place. Jesus was born to die so you could be born to live. That's the truth. That's the story. And so, there is a shepherd, who wants to watch over your soul ,who wants to lead you from this crazy world we're living in, he wants to lead you straight to heaven. And he wants to give you something that nothing in this world can buy, that no other person can give you, that cannot be wrapped and put under a tree. He wants to give you peace in your soul. Can you imagine anything so precious in that chaos all around you? Peace in your soul. See, this is what Jesus came to offer a lot of people. Their soul right now is in turmoil, not peace. There is a war waging in a lot of souls, a war of anxiety, a war of anger, a war of lust, there is a battle that is raging in the souls of men, and Jesus wants to come and give victory and bring peace. That's the prophecy. Like why do you care that a baby has been born in Bethlehem? Well, do you want peace in your life? Well, then that's the way you're going to find it. He's the one.
In fact, look what it says at the end of the book of Micah. Just jump all the way to the end here. Like what is this peace? How do you get peace with all the chaos in our circumstances going on all around us, with all the fear, with all the sickness that is all around us? And maybe even in our personal lives, many trials, many heartaches, people that were missing, people that are causing problems and division, like how in the world that we live in, how could somebody like me or you have peace in our souls, peace between us and God, knowing that God is pleased with me, and therefore I am at peace? It is well with my soul. Like how do you get something like that? Well, at the end of Micah, it explains it to us. And this is really what Micah 7:18-19 means. It says, “Who is a God like you like you,” who's like this? Here's how God is “pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” How are you going to get peace? I'll tell you how all the evil things that you've done, that you've said that you've thought in your head, all the things that you would feel shame and guilt and regret over, and you would think, why did I do that? Let's take all of those things, let's go down to the end of the pier, let's drop them off like a rock, and they'll sink to the bottom of the sea, never to be seen again. If you knew that all of your sins were forgiven, and you were right with God, then you would have peace. And that's what God offers. That's why there's this prophecy of the baby being born. God sent his son to reconcile us, to make us right, to give us peace. And how's that going to happen? Because Jesus came to save us from our sins.
Imagine if you didn't have to feel guilty, if you didn't have to be ashamed, if you didn't have to think, well, I’ve got to lie about this to cover up that, and I’ve got to hide this over here, so nobody knows about that. Or I can't stand that person or be around that person, because I already did this with them. Imagine if all of that was gone. Imagine if when God came down from heaven to earth, he wasn't walking around, ready to stomp on the little towns of Judah, treading them down in judgment. What if when God came and dwelt with us, he didn't stomp on us, but he tread our sins under his feet, and he destroyed our sin once and forever so that we could be forgiven and righteous and have peace. Who's a God like that, where his people sin against him and, instead of coming and wiping them out, he decides that he delights in steadfast love, and he wants to pass over your transgressions, and he wants to pardon your iniquities. And he doesn't want to come down here to stomp on you and judge you. He wants to come down here and take your sin away so you can have peace in your soul. That's what Christmas is. That's what Micah is trying to say for seven hundred years. He's saying, hey, it's going to be one who's going to be born and he can give you peace. What other story are you going to go listen to? What other thing are you going to go believe in where everything that you did that was wrong gets forgiven, and all of your sin gets put on God's one and only son? What good news! What great joy. Like Jesus came down here to pay your penalty so that you could have his life, and you could be right with God through Jesus Christ, that you can have peace. That's what Micah is saying. And he ends with this. I mean, Micah is so confident he says, “You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham.” Jacob is another way to say Israel. Abraham, he's the father of the Jews. Right? I mean, it's saying we have a God; our God is faithful. And he has steadfast love. These are two things that the Bible wants you to know about God: God is faithful, and he has steadfast love. Or as John writes in John 1:14, when Jesus was born, when the Word of God put on flesh, and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, “full of grace and truth.” That's who God is. Everything God says is going to happen – guaranteed. Seven hundred years. Doesn't matter how long it takes, God is going to do everything he says. He is faithful to do what he has said. And here's the great news, God, he has a covenant of love. And everyone who believes in Jesus will be forgiven of their sins in his name, and you will receive eternal life where you will know God and enjoy him forever. That's what God is. And Mich is ending he says, “You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the”… phrase that he likes “from the days of old.”
See, Christmas is a time for people to get together and tell the really old stories, the two-thousand-year-old stories, the twenty-seven-hundred years, what Micah was telling. let's go back to king David, and let's go back to when God called him out of that nowhere town. What was its name? Bethlehem. That's right. And how Bethlehem became one of the famous towns in all of the world just because God said so. Just because God loved you so much that he gave his one and only son for you. I'm begging with you right now. It's Christmas. Please, don't miss Christ. So, we're going to give you a chance right now to respond in real worship, to really pray, really sing, and let us come and adore the baby that's been born in Bethlehem.
Father in heaven, we come to you this Christmas. And we pray that you would open our eyes to see Jesus in this epic prophecy. This word that you gave through Micah seven hundred years before Jesus was born, when Bethlehem was back to being a little town, hardly numbered among the clans of Judah. And you said that one would come forth, just like in the days of old, that as you did with king David, so you did with your son Jesus. So, Father, we come to you and we pray that we will not miss this Christmas but that we will worship Jesus. God, let us see the gift you've given in your one and only son, the gift that brings us peace in our souls, that forgives us for our sins. Who is a God like you that on Christmas, you would send your one and only son for sinners like us? So, Father, I just pray for the people that are here right now, and they've never really celebrated Christmas, or they've known many December 25, many gifts, many gatherings. But God, I pray that you would open people's eyes to see that you gave this prophecy, so they would believe in Jesus, and be saved from their sin, that they would have eternal life. I pray that even now, souls you would draw them to your son Jesus, that people would put their faith in Jesus. They won’t just know, oh yeah, he was born in Bethlehem, but let people come to Bethlehem and see Jesus, our Savior has been born.

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