23 December 2018
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Micah 5:1-5a
1 Marshal your troops now, city of troops,
for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel’s ruler
on the cheek with a rod.
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans[b] 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.”
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
4 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.
5a And he will be our peace
-- a few years ago, I bought my
first Kindle -- I was a late adopter of this technology, because I just loved
the feel of having a real book in my hand and I wasn’t sure I would get the
same enjoyment out of reading a book on a screen
-- but, I’m a hoarder when it comes
to books -- I love to buy books -- and, finally, after getting tired of stacks
of books all over the place and book cases that were literally falling apart
from the weight of unread books, I decided I needed to make a change and I
bought my first Kindle -- I became an instant convert to this technology
-- where before I would have to
carry multiple books with me to study and to read when I left home, now I could
carry an entire library right in the palm of my hand -- I could switch from
book to book without having to lug anything around
-- and, one thing I learned about
the Kindle that I really liked was that I could highlight passages and Amazon
would remember them -- before, I would underline passages and take notes as I
read, and then I’d have to go back and put my highlights and notes into a file
-- but with the Kindle, it records all my highlights and notes for me -- I don’t
have to do anything else -- and I can go to a website and download all the
passages that I highlighted and paste them right into a word document with no
extra effort at all
-- Amazon does this for everyone who
reads books on the Kindle -- and I know all the concerns about loss of privacy
and corporations knowing everything about you -- but that’s a small price to
pay for this convenience -- one interesting result of this technology is that
Amazon analyzes everyone’s highlights and publishes a list of the most
highlighted passages in various books, including the Bible -- it’s really
interesting to see what passages strike a chord or leave an impression on
others across this planet
-- does anyone know what the most
highlighted passage in the Bible is? -- I would have laid money that it was
John 3:16 or Psalm 23 or the Lord’s prayer -- but, no, that’s not it
-- the most highlighted passage in
the Bible is Philippians 4:6-7 -- “Do not be anxious about anything, but in
every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
-- why is that passage the most
highlighted passage among readers of the Bible in the world today? -- what does
that mean? -- what does that tell us?
-- it gives us insight into the
emotions and concerns of people in our modern age -- people are worried -- they
are anxious -- they are concerned -- and they’re all looking for the same thing
-- peace -- the peace of God and peace with each other -- right now, among
readers of the Bible on Amazon, peace is our greatest wish and desire
-- you know, that makes sense -- the
question was once asked, "If you could choose what you want most in life,
what would you ask for?" -- and the most common answer was
"Peace."
-- in this world of hostility and
discord -- with broken marriages, split families, hatred, rebellion, selfishness,
financial anxiety, worry and concern -- people are looking for peace
-- they’re searching for it through
whatever avenue they can find -- drugs, alcohol, immoral relationships -- entertainment
-- escapism -- pleasure, self-satisfaction -- positive thinking
-- many people believe that peace is
defined as the absence of trouble in their lives -- so they refuse to face the
problems in their lives, thinking that by avoiding the issues, they will find
peace -- but, search as they may, they’re never going to find peace in this
world -- or peace in their lives -- because the world has never held the answer
to true peace
-- the answer to true peace is only
found in one place -- and we find it here in this prophetic passage from the
Book of Micah
-- this morning we lit the fourth
candle of Advent -- the candle that symbolizes Jesus as our peace -- so, let’s
turn together now to Micah 5 and see what we can learn about finding peace this
Christmas through Jesus
II. Scripture Lesson (Micah 5:1-5a)
-- look with me now at this passage,
beginning in verse 1
1 Marshal your troops now, city of troops,
for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel’s ruler
on the cheek with a rod.
-- Micah is one of the twelve minor
prophets in the Old Testament -- and they’re called “minor” prophets, not
because their messages were not that important -- but because of the length of
their books -- the books of the minor prophets contain only a handful of
chapters as compared to the major prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah
-- Micah was a prophet during the
time the nation of Israel was divided into two countries -- Israel, or Samaria,
to the north and Judah in the south -- living in Judah during the reign of
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, he prophesied the coming destruction of both these
nations because of their idolatry and evil practices
-- in fact, that’s exactly what is
being prophesied in verse 1 -- in this verse, Micah is telling the city of Jerusalem
to get ready for war -- that a siege was coming against them -- and that Israel’s
ruler would be struck on the cheek with a rod -- meaning that both Israel and
Judah would be utterly conquered and destroyed
-- and we know from history that
this happened -- Israel was conquered by the Assyrians and Judah by the Babylonians
-- and their people were carried off into captivity in these respective
countries
-- this was a hard time for the
Israelites -- even the days leading up to the final siege of Jerusalem were
times of war and conflict -- famine was common and people were hungry and destitute
and worried -- they saw no hope -- they saw no future -- and their fears were
realized when Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem and destroyed it in 587
BC, about two hundred years after Micah wrote these words
--
this was a hard prophecy that foretold of
trouble and war and hostility for the Jewish people -- this was the setting
and context into which the next verse was spoken
-- verse 2 -- “But…”
-- stop right there -- that is one
of my favorite words in scripture -- “but”
-- do you know what that word means?
-- it means something is changing -- it means that God is putting a comma where
we have put a period
-- for the people of Israel living
in the reality of Micah’s prophecy -- experiencing war and conflict and
violence -- going about their day with little food and no money -- they had no
hope -- they saw nothing ever getting better again
-- but then the Lord God Almighty
Himself spoke from heaven and said, “Yes, this is what you are suffering as a
consequence of your sins against Me, but…
-- But, I am going to do something -- I am going to change your lives -- I
am going to make a difference and a way and a hope where you had none before --
yes, you’re living this way now, but
just see what I am about to do”
-- verse 2
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans[b] 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.”
-- one thing to note here is that
verse 2 is a direct quote from God Himself -- if you’ll notice in your Bible,
this verse is in quotes -- these are not the words of Micah, but the words of
God Himself speaking to Micah -- God is speaking hope directly to the people of
Israel in the midst of their captivity and sins -- in this verse, God promises
the coming of the Messiah -- the Savior who will save the people from their
sins and restore Israel once again
-- we learn here that the Savior
will be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah -- a little town just outside of Jerusalem
-- out of this insignificant little village will come for God the One who will
be the ruler over Israel -- whose coming was ordained from eternity itself
-- there are several things that we
need to see in this familiar Messianic prophecy that foretells the birth of
Jesus in Bethlehem at Christmas -- first, you’ll notice that the Messiah is
called the “ruler” and not the “king” -- that’s intentional -- there were pagan
associations with the term king, and it was Israel’s desire for a human king
that led to its eventual downfall -- this tells us that the Messiah is not
going to be like an earthly king, but will be a ruler like God
-- next, if you’ll notice there, the
Messiah will be ruler “over” Israel -- not “in” Israel -- this implies the
breadth of His reign -- He will rule over all the people of God, not just the Jews
and not just the people who are in the land of Israel itself -- His reign is
more than just an earthly nation, but an eternal kingdom
-- and, finally, we see that the
coming of the Messiah was part of God’s will and purpose even before the
beginning of time -- this verse says that the Messiah will come out of Bethlehem
“for Me” -- for God -- it had been decreed by God in the very beginning -- “from
ancient times” -- that the Messiah would come to rule over Israel and to the
Savior and Deliverer of the world
-- “from ancient times” is better
translated as “from eternity” -- the Hebrew word used for “eternity” here was
only used in association with God Himself -- this makes it clear that the
Messiah is none other than God Himself -- the One who will be born in Bethlehem
is the eternal Son of God -- not an earthly king
-- this term also shows that the
Messiah was the ruler from time immortal -- from eternity -- in other words,
the Messiah who is being born in Bethlehem will not “become” the ruler of
Israel -- He has always been God and King since before there even was an Israel
or a world -- this prophecy is a realization of the coming of the King to be
our Immanuel -- God with us here on earth
-- verse 3
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
-- Micah prophesies here that Israel
will be abandoned -- despite what the other so-called prophets were saying in
his day, the nation would not survive -- they would be defeated -- they would
be destroyed -- God would, in essence, abandon them to the consequences of their
sins
-- by saying this, Micah is
referring to the turning of the nation away from God -- as they chose to depend
on foreign kings and idols for their deliverance, God withdrew His presence
from them
-- in a similar way, when the Jewish
leaders rejected Jesus as their Messiah, God abandoned them by withdrawing His
presence from them and turning His attention to the Gentiles and to the Church
of Christ -- this will remain the case until the end times -- the time of Jacob’s
trouble -- the Tribulation period described in the book of Revelation -- when
the Jewish people will finally repent of their sin of unbelief and turn back to
God and to the true Messiah
-- Micah tells us that the time will
come when the “rest of his brothers will return to join the Israelites” -- this
foretells the time when the church of Christ will be united with the Messianic
Jews from the Tribulation period in the Millennial Kingdom -- the thousand-year
reign of Christ on earth
-- verse 4
4 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.
5a And he will be our peace
-- as you know, we are in the season
of Advent -- that word means “coming” -- and at this time of the year, we
celebrate the coming of Christ at Christmas -- the birth of the Messiah in the
little town of Bethlehem
-- but, Micah speaks here of the
second Advent -- the return of the King -- the time when Christ will come again
and usher in His reign here on earth
-- Micah tells us that Jesus will be
our Great Shepherd -- He will lead us and guide us -- He will be our ruler and
our King
-- it will be a time of peace and
prosperity -- and we will live secure in His presence -- protected from all
harm
-- Micah ends these thoughts with
this great proclamation, “And He will be their peace”
-- peace -- just what the world is
looking for -- not found in this world -- not found in any of the places the
people are looking for -- but found only in the person of Jesus
-- peace is not a precept but a
Person -- the Messiah is our peace because He is the Prince of Peace
-- when the Bible speaks of peace,
it doesn’t speak of it the way we normally do -- when we speak of peace, we
recognize it as the absence of conflict -- the absence of war -- in other
words, peace is what we experience when war and conflict and hostilities cease
-- but, the Bible realizes peace as
not the absence of something, but the presence of God permeating all -- the
Hebrew word for peace is Shalom -- it
is defined in the positive, because it not only erases war and hostility, but
it brings with it serenity and harmony and restoration -- it makes all things
right -- it restores what once was back to God’s original plan
-- Shalom results in several different expressions of peace in our
lives and in this world
-- the
first is peace among men -- the traditional definition of peace as we
understand it -- the absence of war and hostility
-- the
second type of peace is peace from God -- that internal feeling of
comfort and support that lets you survive daily in the chaos and the struggles
of life
-- the third type of peace is peace with
God -- this is the peace of Christmas
-- this is the peace of the cross -- this is the peace that only Jesus can
bring -- this is the peace that Micah is talking about in this passage
III. Closing
-- several
years ago, I had the opportunity to hear a message from Don Richardson, who
wrote the book, "Peace Child," based on his experiences living with
the Sawi people in New Guinea -- before Don and his wife Carol arrived, this
primitive tribe had never seen white people before and still lived much as
their ancestors had for centuries upon centuries -- head-hunting cannibals who
fought terrible wars against the other tribes in the region
-- as a
missionary, Don believed the word of God was hidden in the culture of all
people -- in other words, Don believed the redemptive story of Christ could be
found somewhere in the rituals and understanding of all people -- and as he and
Carol struggled to learn the Sawi language to share the gospel, he desperately
looked for a way to bridge this primitive culture with the understanding of
God's redemption through Christ
-- but he
couldn’t find anything among their rituals or practices that he could relate to
salvation through Jesus -- he told them about the Messiah and the Lamb of God
-- he told them about Jesus' death and resurrection -- but they didn’t get it
-- they didn’t understand
-- Don wrote
that he felt like he and Carol had failed -- after several months of living
with the tribe, nothing had been accomplished -- no one understood the gospel
-- no one responded to Jesus' offer of forgiveness of sins -- they continued to
fight each other with tribal factions battling and killing one another within
sight of the Richardsons' jungle home
-- finally,
filled with fear and frustration, Don made the painful decision to leave --
"we're doing no good here -- we can't even stop them from killing each
other -- we can't bring peace to the tribes, much less bring them peace with
God" -- but when he told the tribal leaders of their decision, the leaders
begged them not to go -- "If you will stay, we promise to make peace in
the morning."
-- the next
morning Don and Carol Richardson witnessed an incredible ceremony -- the tribe
they were staying with drew battle lines with a hostile tribe adjacent to their
home, with the warriors lining up on either side of a clearing -- you could
feel the tension in the air -- death stalked the jungle -- normally, the tribes
would engage and only a handful of men would survive
-- but that
morning, something new happened -- one man from the Richardson’s tribe picked
up his newborn child and dashed across the clearing -- his wife ran after him,
screaming and begging for her baby to be given back to her -- unable to catch
him, she fell to her knees on the ground and sobbed for her infant.
-- The
child's father presented his newborn baby -- his only son -- to the enemy clan
-- "Plead the peace child for me," he said. "I give you my son,
and I give you my name."
-- a short
time later, someone from the other tribe performed the same agonizing ritual in
reverse -- and then everyone returned to their homes -- no one died that day
-- Don didn’t
understand what had happened, so he went to the tribal leaders for an
explanation -- "This is the peace child," they said. -- For as long
as those peace children remained alive, the two warring factions were bound to
each other in peace.
-- finally,
Don had found the example of redemption that he had looked for for so long -- he
went to the men of the village and told them the story of another Peace Child
-- the ultimate Peace Child given to humankind by the one true God
-- the
chiefs and warriors who had been unresponsive to the traditional Bible stories sat
spellbound as Don explained how Jesus was our Peace Child -- how He had been
given to bring peace to all people
-- and, within
a short time, a few of the warriors began to understand the gospel and to
receive Jesus as their Savior -- first a few and then finally hundreds of the
Sawi people received Christ -- and the word of God's Peace Child spread among
all the tribes of the region
-- Several
years after this event -- on a Christmas day -- hundreds of Sawi people from
every tribe on the island -- tribes that had warred and cannibalized each other
for many years - gathered together in peace for a feast for the very first
time.
-- a Sawi
preacher stood up and read in his own language a scripture that few people in
the history of the world have ever understood so clearly: "Unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His
shoulders, and He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace."
-- Don
Richardson wrote that this was the most meaningful Christmas they had ever
experienced
-- that’s
what this passage from Micah is all about -- that’s what Christmas is all about
-- as J.I. Packer wrote,"the Christmas message is that there is hope for a
ruined humanity—hope of pardon -- hope of peace with God -- hope of glory"
-- all because of Jesus -- all because God didn't give up on us, but sent His
only Son in exchange for peace with us
-- In
Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Luke, we read that after Jesus was born, angels
appeared to shepherds who were there in the fields outside of Jerusalem and
proclaimed to them the birth of a Savior -- the birth of the Messiah -- and
promised peace and good will to them from the Father above -- they promised
peace would come through Jesus
-- it is
that promise of peace through Jesus that brings us together today on this last
Sunday of Advent
-- as we
close in prayer, let us pray that we know that peace in our hearts this
Christmas -- and that our homes and our hearts would be filled with His peace this
season
-- let us pray
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