Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid
against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the
cheek. 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 origin is from of old, from ancient
days. 3 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. 4 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. 5 And he shall be their peace.
When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces,
then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of
men; 6 they 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.

For the sake of the Sunday before Christmas we are taking a
little detour from our usual exposition of Romans 11. But the path
to Micah 5 does not lead far away from the burden of Romans 11. The
burden of Romans 11 is to answer the question: Has God rejected his
people, Israel? Is he finished with Israel, or is there a future
for this people in Christ?

Micah, like most of the prophets, was burdened by that same
question in view of Israel's sin and God's judgment. Micah is
writing at the same time as Isaiah in the 8th century before Christ
and was alive when Assyria captured the northern kingdom and took
the ten tribes into captivity. He knew this was all owing to God's
judgment. So the question of Israel's future was heavy in his
mind.

Look at verse 3: "Therefore he [God] shall give them [Israel
under God's judgment] up until the time when she who is in labor
has given birth [referring to the time of the coming of the
Messiah]; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people
of Israel." Typically prophets are vague about timing. "Then the
rest of his brothers will return." He does not tell us when. It's
after the Messiah comes, and it's connected with his coming, but
when he doesn't say. He just knows this: The Messiah is coming, and
his coming will mean some great ingathering of Israel.

This is what Paul sees in the prophets and teaches in Romans 11.
For a season there is a hardness on Israel and they are
unresponsive. But the day is coming when the hardness will be taken
away, and all Israel will be grafted in to the tree of true,
redeemed Israel--that is, into Christ.

Listen to the way Leslie Allen makes the connection between
Romans 11 and Micah 5:

Paul is heir to Micah in Romans 11, where in [a] similar vein he
views a mainly Gentile Church as a lopsided thing and looks forward
to the time when Jewish believers would be added in appropriately
large numbers. (The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and
Micah, NICOT, 1976, p. 351).

In other words, when verse 3 says, "The rest of his brothers
will return," this is Micah's way of saying all Israel will be
saved (Romans 11:25).

But let the focus today be on the wonder of the prophesy of
Christ's coming. Let it be not on fact that all Israel will be
saved, but that you and I will be saved because this Messiah is
coming. And let Micah himself help us feel the wonder of being
saved and the greatness of our Savior, Jesus the Messiah.

The Connection Between Micah 5 and Jesus Christ

First, let's get the connection between Micah 5 and Jesus Christ
crystal clear. In Matthew 2:1-6 it says:

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, 2
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." 3 When Herod
the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4
and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he
inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him,
"In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet [then
they quote, and partially misquote, our text]: 6 "'And 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.'"

The chief priests and the scribes knew that Micah 5 was a
reference to the Messiah. So they told King Herod: he will be born
in Bethlehem. That is why God saw to it that Jesus was born in
Bethlehem, even though his mother and Joseph were living in
Nazareth when she got pregnant. He had to be born in Bethlehem,
because he was this ruler of Micah 5.

This was the popular understanding among the people as well,
because in John 7:42 they ask, "Has not the Scripture said that the
Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem,
the village where David was?" So both the leaders and the people
knew that Micah 5 predicted the coming of the Messiah-the ruler who
would be king in Israel. And oh so much more than king in
Israel.

Micah 5:4b says, "For now he shall be great to the ends of the
earth." The coming Messiah--the coming king--was not just a tribal
king. He would be King of kings and Lord of lords. He would be
great to the ends of the earth, not just in Israel.

Now let's look at what Micah tells us about Jesus the
Messiah.

The Insignificance of Bethlehem and the Great Significance of
the One Born There

First, is the contrast between the insignificance of
Bethlehem and the great significance of the one born there.
Verse 2:

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah [an old name for Bethlehem
meaning "fruitful"; see Genesis 48:7], 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.

Bethlehem is scarcely worth counting among the clans of Judah,
yet God chooses to bring his magnificent Messiah out of this town.
Why? One answer is that the Messiah is of the lineage of David and
David was a Bethlehemite. That's true, but it misses the point of
verse two. The point of verse two is that Bethlehem is small--not
that it is great because David was born there. (That's what the
scribes missed in Matthew 2:6). God chooses something small, quiet,
out of the way, and does something there that changes the course of
history and eternity.

Why? Because when he acts this way we can't boast in the merits
or achievements of men but only in the glorious mercy of God. We
can't say, "Well, of course he set his favor on Bethlehem, look at
the human glory Bethlehem has achieved!" All we can say is, "God is
wonderfully free; he is not impressed by our bigness; he does
nothing in order to attract attention to our accomplishments; he
does everything to magnify his glorious freedom and mercy."

The apostle Paul puts it like this in 1 Corinthians 1:27-31.

God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God
chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what
is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to
bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might
boast in the presence of God.… Let him who boasts boast in
the Lord.

God chose a stable so no innkeeper could boast, "He chose the
comfort of my inn!" God chose a manger so that no wood worker could
boast, "He chose the craftsmanship of my bed!" He chose Bethlehem
so no one could boast, "The greatness of our city constrained the
divine choice!" And he chose you and me, freely and
unconditionally, to stop the mouth of all human boasting. This is
the point of Romans 11 and this is the point of Micah 5.

The deepest meaning of the littleness and insignificance of
Bethlehem is that God does not bestow the blessings of the
Messiah--the blessings of salvation--on the basis of our greatness
or our merit or our achievement. He does not elect cities or people
because of their prominence or grandeur or distinction. When he
chooses he chooses freely, in order to magnify the glory of his own
mercy, not the glory of our distinctions. So let us say with the
angels, "Glory to God in the highest!" Not glory to us. We get the
joy. He gets the glory.

Christ Secures for Us the Promises of God

Then notice a second thing Micah shows us about Jesus, the
Messiah. He makes clear that Christ secures for us the promises
of God. Christ is the yes of all God's promises, so that if
you trust Christ, you will inherit the promises. How does Micah
show us this?

Any Jew in those days, hearing Micah predict the coming of a
ruler out of Bethlehem who would feed his flock in the strength of
the Lord, would think immediately of two people: David the King and
the coming son of David, the Messiah. There are at least three
links with David in this text. 1) David was from Bethlehem--that's
why
it was called the "city of David." 2) David was a ruler in
Israel--he was the greatest ruler, a man after God's own heart. And
3) David was a shepherd as a boy, and later he was called the
shepherd of Israel (Psalm 78:71).

The point of these three links with David is this: Micah is
reasserting the certainty of God's promise to David. Recall from 2
Samuel 7:12-16 that God said to David,

I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth
from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a
house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
forever.… And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure
for ever before me; your throne shall be established forever.

The amazing thing about Micah is that he reasserts the certainty
of this promise not at a time when Israel is rising to power but at
a time when Israel is sinking toward oblivion. The northern kingdom
is destroyed and the southern kingdom will come under the judgment
of God.

The point I am making is this: The coming of Christ was the
confirmation of the promises of God. Here's the way Paul put it in
Romans 15:8, "Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show
God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the
patriarchs." Or as he said in 2 Corinthians 1:20, "All the promises
of God find their Yes in him." If you are in Christ by faith, you
will inherit all the promises of God. Christmas is God's great
nullification of all human boasting, and confirmation of all divine
promises. So give up all boasting and enjoy all the promises.

Christ Will Protect His People and Give Them Peace

Finally, Micah shows us that Christ will protect his people
and give them peace. Verse 4:

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. 5 And he shall be their peace.

Look what he offers in this verse.

First, he will stand. He won't lie around waiting for
us to serve him. He will be on his toes, alert, working for those
who trust him as their shepherd.

Second, he will shepherd his flock. He will not leave
us to find our own food. He will lead us in green pastures and
beside still waters. There will be no need unmet in Jesus
Christ.

Third, he will serve us "in the strength of the LORD, in the
majesty of the name of the LORD his God." His good intentions
for us will not be hindered by lack of strength. The strength of
the Lord is omnipotent strength. Therefore, if you are trusting in
Christ, omnipotent strength is on your side. Walk behind him like a
trusting sheep and he will overcome every obstacle to your
purification and joy forever.

Fourth, notice that he shall be great to the ends of the
earth. There will be no pockets of resistance unsubdued. Our
security will not be threatened by any alien forces. Every knee
will bow and confess him Lord. The whole earth will be filled with
his glory.

And finally (at the beginning of verse 5) he will be our
peace. And, yes, in this context that includes final, earthly,
political peace. Micah spoke of it already in 4:3:

He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong
nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

One day the ruler--the King of kings and Lord of lords--will
return and make that a reality. I do not minimize the glory of
it.

The great Christmas carol will finally be fulfilled:

He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of his love.

But I end this message with another deeper peace. A peace that
must happen before there can be peace on earth. There must be peace
between us and God. Our unbelief and his wrath must be removed.
That is our deepest peace--and our deepest need at Christmas.

Micah knew it was coming. He had experienced it personally
(7:8-9). He describes it beautifully at the very end of his book
(Micah 7:18-19)

Who is a God like you, 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. 19
He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities
under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the
sea.

This was the great work of the Messiah yet to be done. Yes there
were enemies on earth that must be defeated if we are to have
peace. But oh, the great enemy called sin and judgment-that is the
greatest and worst enemy. The gospel at Christmas is: This
enemy Christ has trampled under foot at the cross and for everyone
who trusts in him their sins are cast into the depths of the
sea. Therefore we say, not glory to us, but glory to God in
the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is
pleased! Amen.