Advent 4: Amazing Love

Amazing Love
Micah 5: 2 – 5a

I. Introduction.

Christians at Christmas time do not need to be reminded that Jesus is the reason for Christmas. We know that this is the season of the year when we celebrate God's love for us. In fact, Christmas is the fulfillment of one of our favorite Bible verses--John 3: 16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (NIV)."

Christmas is not an event that sneaked up on us. It was prophesied hundreds of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem...


Read Micah 5: 2 – 5a.


II. Verse 2… "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."

The first word of verse 2 is the word “but.” It indicates that Micah is making a transition. In chapter 4, Micah addressed his prophecy to the city of Jerusalem. In chapter 5, Micah addressed his prophecy to the “little town of Bethlehem.”

There are many ways we can draw a distinction between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Jerusalem is the capital city of the nation of Judah. It is the center of Judah’s political life. Jerusalem is home to kings and princes and political movers and shakers and not a few political “want to be’s.” Jerusalem is also the center of commerce for Judah. Businessmen from all over Judah moved to Jerusalem to seek their fortunes. And, many of them found their fortunes there, selling their products at highly inflated rates. Jerusalem was the home for the Temple in Micah’s day. The priests offered sacrifices almost daily. People came to worship God and traveled to Jerusalem on religious pilgrimages. It was also commonplace to see and hear prophets preaching the Word of the LORD on the streets of Jerusalem.

By contrast, Bethlehem was nothing like Jerusalem. Bethlehem was not even big enough to be considered a city. We might think of Bethlehem as a town, but the writers of the New Testament refer to Bethlehem as a village. There are no powerful political figures living in the village of Bethlehem. The citizens of Bethlehem were not members of the social elite. They were not wealthy businessmen, like in Jerusalem. The residents of Bethlehem were more than likely peasant farmers. They worked hard all day, every day and were never able to get ahead. More than likely, they could never get ahead, because they did not own their own farmland. They were renting the farmland from wealthy people who lived in Jerusalem.

This is one of Micah’s consistent themes in his prophecy. Micah was a small town prophet who preached against the big capital cities of Samaria (Israel) and Jerusalem (Judah). In fact, this is another reason why the word “but” appears in verse 2. There is a sharp contrast between the landscape of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. There is a sharp contrast between the people who live in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. AND…There is a sharp contrast in the way God will deal with Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Micah prophesied that Jerusalem would be destroyed by God’s judgment, BUT Bethlehem would be blessed as the birthplace for a new King of God’s people.

It’s no surprise that Micah prophesied destruction for Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the epitome of everything Micah despised. Micah was a bold prophet, who spoke harsh words of judgment against the people of Jerusalem. Micah singled out three groups of people for God’s judgment: the political leaders, the business leaders and the religious leaders.

The political leaders of Jerusalem had turned their backs on the everyday needs of the people of Judah. There was no justice in the land, because the king and his cabinet could be bribed to do whatever the rich wanted them to do. The business leaders of Jerusalem were exploiting the poor. They were engaged in immoral practices like price gouging. The rich were getting richer, while the poor became poorer. The religious leaders of Jerusalem were more interested in money than being faithful to the LORD. The priests were corrupt and the prophets gave good news to anyone who was willing to pay the prophets…Even when they had to lie to give a good report.

Micah’s words to Bethlehem are a little surprising. God’s plan for his people would be accomplished through an insignificant village and not a great city. If you have read the Bible, this might not come as a surprise to you. After all, this is the way God works. God uses the weak to lead the strong. God chooses the youngest to rule over the oldest. We see this in the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. Joseph was the youngest of eleven brothers. (Eventually, Benjamin was born and became the youngest, but much of Joseph’s story happened before Benjamin was born.) His ten brothers despised him. Yet, God used Joseph to save the entire Hebrew people from a world-wide famine. We see this in the story of David, the ideal King of Israel. Samuel went to Bethlehem to anoint a king to replace Saul. Jesse brought seven sons before Samuel to see which one God would choose. David was left tending the sheep in the pasture, because surely God would not choose the youngest of eight brothers. Yet, God chose David, because God’s choice does not usually look like the world’s choice. God chooses the least to lead the greatest.

There is another surprising thing about Micah’s prophecy to Bethlehem. When God’s people needed a savior, God would bring that savior out of Bethlehem and not Jerusalem. This is surprising, because Bethlehem is the home of country folk. Bethlehem is the home of peasant farmers. Jerusalem was the home of kings, wealthy men and religious leaders. Think about what that implies. The savior of God’s people will not be a king, a wealthy businessman or a religious leader. The savior will not have any of the earthly characteristics of a leader.


III. Verse 3… 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.

When we read the book of Micah, we encounter a dual theme. On one hand, Micah preached about coming judgment. On the other hand, Micah preached about future hope for God’s people.

More than likely, Micah preached in Judah around 750 BC. His career included the time when the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians. His primary audience was the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Micah used the destruction of Israel as a warning to Judah. He told Judah that they were not exempt from God’s judgment. Just as God brought judgment on Israel for her sins, God would bring judgment on Judah for her sins. Of course, Judah did not experience this judgment for another 200 years. However, Micah was right. Judah was defeated by the Babylonians, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people were carried off as captives into a foreign land.

Yet, even in the face of judgment, Micah preached about hope. One of his common themes to describe judgment and hope was the image of a woman in labor. If you think about this image, it makes a lot of sense. A woman in labor experiences extreme pain and discomfort. But, this pain does not last forever. It will come to an end. And, when the labor pains are over, there is joy in the birth of a newborn baby.

This is how Micah wove together his themes of God’s judgment and hope. Judgment would be extremely painful and uncomfortable for Judah, but it would be temporary. Once the pain of judgment was over, there would be joy and hope and peace and love in the land. This joy, hope, peace and love was dependent on a new King who would be born in Bethlehem.

It’s interesting to me that Micah never gave the people of Judah a precise timeline of when they could expect this new King to be born. He told them WHO the king would be—he would be a descendant of David. He told them WHAT he would be—a new and perfect King. He told them WHERE the King would be born—Bethlehem. He told the WHY the King would be born—to fulfill God’s plan for God’s people. But, Micah never told them WHEN.

It was the later interpreters of Micah that wrestled with the question of WHEN the new King would be born. First, they looked for the new King to come immediately after the Exile. The Judahites were only in Babylonian captivity for seventy years. After seventy years, they returned home…But there was no new King. Then, Jewish religious leaders turned their attention to the future. The new King would be born in Bethlehem as a sign of God’s new Kingdom—when God would reestablish Israel as the center of all earthly politics.

However, the Gospel of Matthew has a different understanding of when the new King would be born. In Matthew 2, we read the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Luke tells us the story of the shepherds, who were “out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.” Luke tells us that the shepherds were the first to visit Jesus in Bethlehem. Matthew doesn’t mention the shepherds. Instead, Matthew tells us about Magi (Wise Men), who traveled to Israel from foreign countries.

The Wise Men were searching for a King. Where do you go to find a King? You go to the capital city. It makes perfect sense that the Wise Men first stopped in Jerusalem to search for the new King. There was no new King in Jerusalem. There was an old king. The old king asked his religious leaders where the new King was supposed to be born, and they quoted Micah 5: 2. The new King was to be born in Bethlehem. Jesus is the new King.


IV. Verses 4 – 5a… 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.

Micah gave us a great description of the new King that make it easy for us to associate Jesus and the new King.

1. Jesus is not a political King…Jesus did not come to create a new political kingdom through politics or military strength. Jesus came to establish the Kingdom of God, which is a spiritual kingdom with impact on the physical world we live in. A spiritual relationship with God affects our politics just like it affects the way we live our everyday lives, but the Kingdom of God is neither limited to geopolitical boundaries or one political system.

2. Jesus is not a King for the wealthy…Even in the midst of a recession, you and I live in one of the wealthiest nations on the earth. So, it may sound like bad news to say that Jesus is not King of the wealthy. God’s Kingdom is available equally to wealthy, poor, middle class, any economic status. However, not all wealthy people feel attraction to God’s Kingdom, because Jesus teaches us not to focus our lives on accumulating wealth.

3. Jesus is not a religious King…On one hand, this seems contradictory in that Christianity is listed among the world religions. On the other hand, this is not a contradiction in that Jesus calls us to a relationship, not a religious system. Jesus did not come to restore or even to reform Judaism. Jesus came to grant access to God outside the parameters of religion, especially the sacrificial system.

4. Jesus’ origins are from eternity…The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem was not the beginning of Jesus’ life. It was the beginning of his Incarnation. Jesus is fully God and was present with God in the act of creation. However, Christmas is when God condescended to us as a baby in a manger. God did not reveal himself as something to be feared or as something to be manipulated. God revealed himself as a person, with whom relationship is possible.

5. Jesus is our Shepherd…There are several aspects of a shepherd that also describe Jesus. Shepherds nourish, protect and provide for their sheep. Shepherds live among their sheep. Shepherds love their sheep and lay down their lives for their sheep.

6. Jesus is the Name of the LORD…Name in the Bible is a reference to a person’s character. When God changed a person’s character, he often demonstrated it by changing their name. Jesus is fully God in Name and in Character. No other king in Israel’s history drew their authority from the Name of God. Jesus was not wealthy, elite or even of noble birth. His authority comes from his character.

7. Jesus rules over the ends of the earth…Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise God made to David that one of David’s descendants would always be king of Israel. However, Jesus’ reign goes beyond the geopolitical boundaries of Israel. All nations, all races, all peoples are part of God’s Kingdom through faith.

8. Jesus is the source of Peace…The Hebrew notion of Peace does not refer to the absence of conflict. The Hebrew word shalom is built on the root word that means “whole” or “complete.” The only true peace in this life comes from a relationship with God through Jesus, making us complete…


V. Conclusion.

At Christmas, we celebrate and worship, because God loves us so much that he gave us the greatest gift. He gave us himself. This year, instead of thinking of Christmas as a “gift giving” season, let’s think of it as a time to receive God’s gift of love.