The Promised King of Israel 12/24/2023

Joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Beloved.

It is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who

testified to your love before the church.

You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God, for they have gone out for the sake

of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.

Therefore, we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the.

Truth.

I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not

acknowledge our authority.

So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us.

And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to,

and puts them out of the church.

Beloved, do not imitate evil, but imitate good.

Whoever does good is from God, whoever does evil has not seen God.

Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself.

We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.

I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink.

I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

Peace be to you, the friends greet you, greet the friends each by name.

Let's pray.

Our Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're thankful for the incarnation.

We're thankful for his life, for his death, his resurrection, his

ascension.

We're thankful, Lord, that he is ruling now.

And we thank you, Lord, that we are found in him, that we belong to you.

And Lord, as we continue our worship service, we pray that we would keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, that you would

teach us what your word has to say.

We pray, Lord, that you would keep distractions far from us, help each one of us to focus on the words that are being proclaimed.

And we pray that we would submit to them in the power of your spirit.

Be with Lars and give him clarity of voice as he speaks and clarity of thought.

We pray, Lord, that this message would be pleasing to you, that our worship would be pleasing to you.

Help us in all these things.

Thank you, Lord.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, today, we're going to give attention to Micah, chapter 5, verses 1 to

5a, the first portion of verse 5.

Because this Lord's Day, of course, is Christmas Eve, I thought we would depart from the current place

of our study in Luke to address a passage that is directly applicable

to the occasion.

This is kind of a late decision on my part.

I was working through the passage of Luke, even yesterday, up until about 3 o 'clock.

But from Luke 11, 14 and following it, really, there's an emphasis on Jesus

engaging with the devil.

And so I realized I was going to have to talk a lot about the devil.

And I said, on Christmas Eve, I don't want to stand up here and talk about the devil.

I want to stand up here and talk about the Lord Jesus.

And so I shifted yesterday afternoon and thought, no, no, we'll deal with

an Old Testament prophecy of the Lord Jesus.

And so I turned to Micah, chapter 5.

And so here we are.

There are, of course, many Old Testament passages which we could examine with view to the birth of our

Savior.

But for our purposes, I thought this would be fitting.

And so let's turn in our Bibles to this Old Testament prophet, minor prophet, so -called,

in which we see a very clear prophecy of the birth and the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of

David.

And so here's the passage.

Now, gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops.

He has laid siege against us.

They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of

you shall come forth to me, the one to be ruler in Israel,

whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting.

Therefore he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth.

And then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel, and he shall

stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord and in the majesty of the name of the

Lord his God, and they shall abide.

For now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and this one shall be

peace.

We'll address this passage first by rehearsing the historic context in which

God raised up the prophet Micah to address this situation,

and then we'll deal with the details of the prophecy itself.

And so the historic setting of Micah's prophecy, God had called Micah to be his

prophet, enabling him to serve really with a contemporary, contemporary with the prophet

Isaiah in the 8th century, latter 8th century B .C.

Micah, as did Isaiah, ministered in the southern kingdom of Judah, two tribes of Judah,

in which Micah, along with Isaiah, helped shape the policies through his influence with the kings of Judah,

and Micah served as a prophet during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah,

which of course was a time of a revival.

This was a period of history in which the Gentile Assyrian empire became

predominant in the ancient world, and Micah prophesied of Assyria

conquering and dispersing the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel.

Assyria was God's servant to bring his judgment upon Israel, and so the

capital of Israel, Samaria, the city of Samaria, was destroyed in 722 B .C.

After this event, the Assyrian armies continued south into Judah, conquering all the land except for

Jerusalem, but they laid siege to Jerusalem, but God, of course, miraculously intervened,

delivering the city's inhabitants by decimating the Assyrian forces, 185 ,000 of them in one

night, the angel of the Lord struck dead.

Micah had foretold Assyria's advance and the siege of Jerusalem in chapter

1, but God's judgment of the Assyrian empire did not bring a true and full repentance to the

people.

You'd think it would, and so God purposed to bring further and greater judgment to Babylon,

which took place about 100 years later.

Of course, Babylon's destruction of the southern kingdom entirely, including Jerusalem in its entirety,

and the temple that was destroyed, the walls broken down, it took place a little, about a century after

Micah's ministry, but Micah foretold that event as well.

But with the execution of this later judgment, God exiled his people to the land of Babylon.

All the Jewish people were removed from the land except the poorest, and then they ran off to

Egypt, of course, taking Jeremiah with them, and there they died, and so the land was desolate.

But it is within this historic setting that God revealed to his prophet that he would send to them one who would restore a

remnant of his people to God.

This savior would preserve the Jewish remnant through God's judgment, restore them to a right relationship with their

God.

So on the other side of judgment, there's salvation for a remnant.

This future son of David who would affect their salvation would become the future king of Israel,

who would save his people from God's wrath, and then lead and enable them to live

in righteousness before God.

The apostle Paul saw this prophecy being fulfilled in this gospel era, which was evident in

the early church, and so Paul wrote of this, I say then as God cast away his

people, his reasoning, no, there's still a remnant being saved, I'm one, I'm a Jew, Paul says, certainly not, for I

also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew, or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he

pleads with God against Israel, saying, Lord, they've killed your prophets, torn down your altars, and

I alone am left, they seek my life.

What does the divine response say to him?

I reserve for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal, and then

Paul makes this statement, even so then at this present time, there is a

remnant according to the election of grace.

He's talking about a remnant of Jews, and Paul says he was one of those.

Micah speaks about a remnant of Jews that would be saved by the Savior.

It's the same remnant, the remnant of Jews.

And so Micah wrote of this remnant in chapter 5, verse 3, back in our passage, then the

remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel.

Now let's consider the details of the passage of Micah chapter 5, verse 1

and following.

Now we saw the broader historic context in which Micah lived.

But now let's consider more narrowly the literary

context of Micah's words.

And so the words of the prophet that immediately preceded Micah 5, 1 and following is at the end

of chapter 4, verses 9 through 13.

God revealed to his prophet Micah that he would bring forth his judgment upon this people.

He distanced himself from these rebellious people.

He doesn't call them my people, but this people, using his instruments, again, first Assyria,

later Babylon, to punish his people.

And in this invasion by Judah, by these two kingdoms, the kings of Judah, that is the descendants

of David, would be powerless to deliver the people.

In Micah 4, 9 through 13, God pronounced his wrath upon the people in sending them into exile to Babylon.

But God would bring forth a remnant from exile to whom God would bring his salvation.

And he would do so in a manner that was beyond their ability to understand or even to accept.

For it would be a sovereign act of God to bring them salvation.

And so here's Micah 4, 9 through 13.

Now why do you cry aloud?

Is there no king in your midst?

Has your counselor perished?

For pangs have seized you like a woman in labor.

Be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in birth pangs.

For now you shall go forth from the city, talks about exile, to Babylon.

You shall dwell in the field, and to Babylon you shall go.

There you shall be delivered, there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

And now also many nations have gathered against you, who say, let her be defiled.

Let her eye look upon Zion.

But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, nor do they understand his counsel.

For he will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hooves

bronze.

And you shall beat in pieces many peoples.

I will consecrate their gain to the Lord, and their substance to the Lord of the whole.

Earth.

And so God declared that before he brought them deliverance, they would first encounter his judgment.

As one wrote, the pain of judgment, that is exile, loss of king and land.

The pain of judgment for the remnant must precede the birth of the messianic age that will follow.

And this is a pattern, of course, that is duplicated in history, but also in the lives of individuals.

He brings us through judgment, conviction of sin, before he delivers us in salvation.

This is his way, salvation through judgment.

But then we read of God's purpose to bring salvation through a future son of David.

And so we have the literary context of Micah chapter 5, verse 1

and following.

Let us now consider these details.

We may assess these verses, first, by considering Micah's prediction of the temporal judgment

of God, of the Jewish nation, what would befall them shortly

after Micah's life.

Secondly, we read of the prediction of the coming Davidic Messiah, as in verses 2 and.

3.

Third, Micah predicts the Messiah's protection of his people and of his defeat of his people's.

Enemies.

The first part of verse 4, verse 4a.

And then fourthly, we have the promise of God's peace that the Messiah will secure for his people.

And this is found in the second portion of verse 4, verse 4b, and the first clause

of verse 5, 4b and 5a.

So let's work through these sections.

First, Micah's prediction of the temporal judgment of God of the Jewish nation.

We read in verse 1, Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops, he has laid siege

against us.

They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

Now these words can be understood as God commanding the armies of Babylon to invade

Judah and lay siege to Jerusalem, particularly the first two lines.

Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops.

Actually, these words of the prophet were realized through Babylon defeating and capturing Jerusalem

on three occasions over the course of 19 years.

The first defeat of Jerusalem took place in 605 BC when King Nebuchadnezzar, actually the

second, subjugated the city of Jerusalem and installed Jehoiakim to be his puppet king,

who thereafter made annual tribute payments to his Babylonian masters.

But in 598, seven years after he had been reigning,

Jehoiakim refused to pay further tribute, and so Babylon once again attacked and

defeated Jerusalem in 598, 597 BC.

And then he installed Jeconiah as the vassal king to the Babylonian

emperor.

If my memory serves me right, he was a grandson of Josiah, who was quite a well -known king.

But Jeconiah reigned only three months when Babylon deposed him.

And at this time, the Babylonian conqueror, Nebuchadnezzar II, installed the last descendant of David

as king, who was Zedekiah.

But later, he too, Zedekiah, rebelled, having made an alliance with Egypt against Babylon.

And so the result was a third siege of Jerusalem by Babylon that defeated

Jerusalem entirely in 586 BC, and that's when they destroyed the

Jerusalem temple, and the city walls were dismantled, and the city was burned,

and everybody was taken into exile.

Three different sieges and defeats of the city.

And with each of these three defeats of Jerusalem, Babylon took captive Jewish people, the richest

and most educated first, then kind of the middle class and the last, perhaps the poorest

workers and whatnot, and he only left some of the poorest of the people in the land at the end.

The young prophet Daniel was probably taken in the first deportation in 605.

Perhaps Ezekiel was taken to Babylon in the 597 deportation.

And with the destruction of Jerusalem, the last descendant of David was deposed from being king

until the promised son of David, King Jesus, arose to be king over Israel.

And so the Davidic dynasty had come to an end.

And the second portion of verse 1 of Micah 5 is the voice despair

of the Jewish people upon their defeat and destruction.

They also lament that on this occasion, the king, the judge of Israel, the Davidic king was

deposed and humiliated.

The Davidic dynasty is the kings of Israel and ceased to exist.

And so the people exclaimed, he has laid siege against us.

Speaking of Babylon, they will strike the judge of Israel with the rod of the cheek.

Speak about deposing the king of Judah, the son of David.

Calvin wrote about this rightly, to strike on the cheek is to offer the greatest indignity

as indeed it is the greatest contempt.

We now then perceive that the prophet's object was to show that the Jews in

vain boasted of their kingdom and civil constitution for the Lord would expose the governors of that

kingdom to extreme contempt.

The enemies then shall strike their judges even on the cheek.

And so it's a devastating event when this son of David is deposed

and he's defeated.

But the question might be then asked, is this the end of the Davidic dynasty?

What if God's promise to King David when he had long before declared to David these words from

one of my favorite passages of the Old Testament, 2 Samuel 7, God told David, when your days are

fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seat after you who will come forth from your

body.

Now, this is an immediate reference to Solomon, a more distant reference to Jesus, the greater son of David.

And I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name.

Solomon built the temple.

Jesus is building the household of God, the spiritual temple, the church.

And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

I will be his father and he shall be my son.

That is Solomon, certainly Jesus, were to reign on behalf of their father.

Solomon failed.

King Jesus, of course, will never fail in reigning on behalf of his father.

If he commits iniquity, of course, Jesus never did.

Solomon certainly did.

If he commits iniquity, I will chase him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.

But my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed before you.

And your house, he's talking to David, your house, your kingdom shall be established forever

before you.

Your throne shall be established forever.

That was a covenant that God made with David of an eternal dynasty.

But now after showing forth how low the divinic dynasty would sink into obscurity, even oblivion

through Micah's prophecy, God speaks forth through Micah of a glorious recovery of the

house of David.

Matthew Henry described this, having shown how low the house of David should be brought and how

vilely the shield of that mighty family should be cast away as though it had not been anointed with

oil to encourage the faith of God's people, who might be tempted now to think that his covenant with

David and his house was abrogated.

According to the psalmist's complaint, Psalm 139, he adds an illustrious prediction of the Messiah and his

kingdom and whom that covenant should be established and the honors of that house.

In other words, the house of David be revived, advanced, and perpetuated.

So now secondly, we see a prediction of the coming divinic Messiah in Micah

5 verses 2 and 3.

God reveals to his prophet, his future son of David, whom he would raise up to be king over Israel.

But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you

shall come forth to me, the one to be the ruler in Israel, whose goings

forth are of old, from everlasting, and therefore he shall give them up

until the time that she who is in labor is given birth, and then the remnant of his brethren shall

return to the children of Israel.

So Micah identifies Bethlehem, Ephrathah, as the birthplace of this coming king.

Bethlehem, of course, was a small obscure town about five miles southeast of

Jerusalem.

It was a township of little prominence, little among the thousands of Judah.

And Micah wrote of it, though you were little among the thousands, Christ would give honor to the place of his birth

and not derive honor from it.

It's a humble origin of our Lord Jesus, the son of David.

Now, of course, Mary Joseph's home was in Nazareth and far off Galilee, 100 miles to the north.

Bethlehem, rather than southeast, as I said before, southwest, a little southwest of Jerusalem.

God and his providence would move and shape the decree of kings to have his son born in this small obscure place

to fulfill the prophecy given through Micah.

And so we read of God's sovereign and providential control of history, bringing this prophecy to fulfillment.

And so here we read in Luke 2 verse 1, following these familiar words, it came to pass in those

days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed, the Roman emperor.

The census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.

That was the whole region of Palestine.

So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David,

which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered

with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.

And so it was while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling cloths, laid him in a manger because there was no

room for them in the inn.

Now general peaceful conditions existed in the world during those days when our savior was born.

His birth took place in the days of Caesar Augustus who ruled the Roman empire from 30 BC

to AD 14.

And we read that Quirinius was the governor of the Roman province of Syria, which included the region of Palestine,

Galilee, as well as Judea.

And during these times the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, provided security and a measure of

prosperity for Roman citizens throughout the empire.

And even non -Roman citizens benefited in a measure from this peace of Rome.

The emperor had ordered a census.

The census was a registration with view to taxation.

And so each family was to register itself in its ancestral hometown.

When we consider this edict, we might perceive cruelty on the part of oppressors who require unreasonable

demands of Joseph and his pregnant wife.

But it was probably an accommodation to the Jews to be registered in their hometowns, to be

identified with their ancestors and the inheritance which was theirs.

It actually reveals a measure of Roman toleration toward its citizens, toward the

Jews, to have them registered in this fashion.

Of course it was necessary this baby be born in Bethlehem in accordance with the Old Testament prophecy of

Micah 5 -2.

The timing and the circumstances revealed the providence of God, which is God working behind the scenes,

shaping, controlling events to fulfill his will.

And so Caesar thought to tax the world, but in reality God purposed to have his son born in

Bethlehem and to have his genealogy to David officially recognized and recorded.

And therefore the decree of Caesar went out, thereby accomplishing the decree of God concerning

his son.

As one once wrote, princes are but puppets in his hands.

He removes kings and sets up kings, and so we see the hand of God controlling the events

to accomplish his purposes.

And that's going on today too.

The world's not out from under the control of Jesus Christ.

He's accomplishing God the Father's purposes in history, saving his people and judging his

enemies.

We shouldn't be fearful.

Again Bethlehem was the hometown of King David, and by identifying Bethlehem as his birthplace,

this signified that this one born to be king over Israel is the promised descendant of King David.

Bethlehem Ephrathah means house of bread fruitful.

And although the Davidic lineage of kings would cease to reign in the days of the Babylonian defeat and

destruction of Jerusalem 587 BC, 586 BC, when God humbled

terribly King Zedekiah, son of David, God would bring forth from this humble town of Bethlehem

a son of David who would perpetuate the dynasty of David forever.

And so of Bethlehem the prophet says, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet you shall come forth to

me, out of you shall come forth to me, the one to be the ruler in Israel.

The messianic kingdom promised to King David would be realized when this one born in

Bethlehem becomes the ruler in Israel.

This son of David will come forth to live before God and reign over Israel on behalf of God.

This one will be God's king over Israel.

Now I have to affirm very strongly, because this is all wrongly interpreted by most evangelicals, this is

not a promise of a future earthly kingdom of a revived national state of Israel of ethnic Jewish

people.

This is the promise of the eternal reign over the true Israel, over all the people of faith.

The promised children of Abraham, Matthew Henry, all the reformers understood it this way, but

Matthew Henry wrote his office as mediator, he was to be ruler in Israel, king of his

church.

Church did not replace Israel, the church is true Israel.

The Jews object that our Lord Jesus could not be the Messiah for he was so far from being ruler in Israel that Israel

ruled over him and put him to death and would not have him to reign over them, but he answered that himself

when he said my kingdom is not of this world.

It is a spiritual Israel that he reigns over, the children of promise, all the followers of believing

Abraham and praying Jacob.

In the hearts of these he reigns by his spirit and grace and in the society of these by his word and

ordinances and was not he ruler in Israel from whom winds and seas obeyed to whom

legions of devils were forced to submit and who commanded away diseases from the sick and called the dead

out of their graves.

None but he whose goings forth were from of old from everlasting was fit to be ruler in Israel,

to be head of the church, the head over all things to the church.

And so we would reason and argue in so many places of the Bible it's hard to imagine anyone could

believe any differently.

Jesus Christ is presently enthroned over Israel that is the Israel of God.

This is what Peter declared on the day of Pentecost, that's the nature of his sermon.

He declared man of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by

miracles and wonders signs which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know him

being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God you have taken by lawless hands have

crucified and put to death whom God raised up having loose the pains of death because it's not possible

that he should be held by it for David says concerning him quotes the Old Testament to

substantiate what God had done.

David said I foresaw the Lord always before my face for he is at my right hand that

I may not be shaken and therefore my heart rejoiced my tongue was glad moreover my flesh also will

rest in hope for you will not leave my soul in Hades nor will you allow your holy one to

see corruption.

You have made known to me the ways of life you will make me full of joy in your presence.

And now Peter argues that wasn't David speaking about himself he was a prophet he was speaking about his greater son

Jesus Christ.

Men and brethren let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David that he's both dead and buried his tomb is

with us to this day.

He wouldn't talk about himself therefore being a prophet knowing that God had sworn with an oath to

him that the fruit of his body according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.

He foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ

that his soul was not left in Hades nor did his flesh see corruption.

This Jesus God raised up which we are all witnesses and therefore being exalted to the right hand of God

and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit he poured out this which you now see and hear.

David not did not ascend into heaven but he says himself the Lord said to my Lord sit

at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.

And therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified

both Lord and Christ.

Jesus is the king of Israel.

That kingdom was not postponed.

Jesus didn't fail.

The crucifixion did not prevent his reign.

God used the crucifixion to facilitate his reign.

It was to the cross death resurrection ascension.

He was enthroned because of his faithfulness.

Jesus is Lord.

He's the king of Israel.

And so Peter declared that Jesus was the promised son of David whom God raised from the dead and enthroned in

heaven over Israel.

Jesus Christ was born to be the king of Israel.

And Peter declared on the day of Pentecost that God had inaugurated him to sit on David's throne in heaven

the king of Israel Lord over all the world.

Matthew quoted Micah 5 2 as being fulfilled in the days when Jesus was born.

The people of Israel regarded this verse of Micah as prophetic of the coming Messiah.

Even King Herod knew this.

He believed this because he had been instructed by the Jewish rabbis.

The account is in Matthew 2.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem a Judea in the days of Herod the king behold wise men from the

east came to Jerusalem saying where is he was born king of the Jews.

For we've seen his star in the east have come to worship him.

And when Herod the king heard this he was troubled all Jerusalem with him.

We've got a competing king here born.

And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together inquired of them where Christ were to be born.

So they said to him in Bethlehem a Judea.

For thus it is written by the prophet quotes Micah 5 2.

But you Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not the least among the rulers of Judah.

For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

And so the prophet tells forth this promised son of David not only to be the ruler of God's people.

Matthew sets him forth as the one who will shepherd my people Israel.

You see there's a difference.

The Holy Spirit inspired Micah to quote the son of David be a ruler over Israel.

The Holy Spirit moved Matthew to quote record it.

He will be shepherded over my people Israel.

But these two readings are not that far apart for the in the old testament shepherds were the political

rulers of Israel.

And this one one might regard or recall the prophecy that God gave to his prophet Ezekiel.

When we speak of shepherds in a New Testament context we naturally think of the role and function of pastors

in that they shepherd the flock of God and that's what's taught.

But in the days of the old covenant the term shepherds was a description of the function of the political leaders of

Israel and God denounced these evil shepherds for failing to in their leading and

protecting Israel.

And so here we read in Ezekiel the word of the Lord came to me saying

son of man prophecy against the shepherds of Israel.

He's not talking about the priests here specifically he's talking about the princes.

The political leaders of Israel say to them.

Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves.

Sounds like Washington DC today.

Doesn't it should not.

The shepherds feed the flocks.

You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool.

You slaughter the fatlings.

But you do not feed the flock the weak.

You've not strengthened nor have you healed those who are sick nor bound up the broken nor brought back what was driven away nor

sought what was lost but with force and cruelty you've ruled them.

And so they were scattered because there were no shepherd they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered

my sheep wandered throughout through all the mountains and on every high hill.

Yes my flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth and no one was seeking or searching for them.

And therefore you shepherds hear the word of the Lord as I live says the Lord God.

Surely because my flock became a prey my flock became food for every beast of the field.

Because there was no shepherd nor did my shepherd search for my flock.

But the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed my flock.

Therefore shepherds hear the word of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord God behold I'm against the shepherds.

I will require my flock at their hand.

I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more.

For I will deliver my flock from their mouths that they may no longer be food for them.

Jesus took the leadership of Israel out from the Pharisees and the priests and

gave entrusted it to his 12 disciples.

He took away their kingdom and gave it to his disciples.

And there were 12 disciples because there's 12 tribes of Israel.

For thus says the Lord God indeed I myself will search for my feet sheep and seek them out as a

shepherd seeks out his flock on the days among the scattered sheep.

So will I seek out my sheep God himself and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a

cloudy and dark day.

And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them to their own land.

And I will feed them on the mountain of Israel in the valleys and all the inhabited places of the country.

I will feed them in good pasture and their folds shall be on the high places of Israel there they shall lie

down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

I will feed my flock.

I will make them lie down says the Lord God.

I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away bind up the broken strengthen what was sick.

But I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them in judgment.

And if we had time we'd read the entire passage.

But we're going to drop down a little further and we see that God would set up a son of David to be the

shepherd of his people.

He would replace the false shepherd the false political leaders of Israel and his son would

become their king.

Therefore thus says the Lord God to them behold I myself will judge between the fat and lean sheep

because you've pushed with side and shoulder butted all the weak ones with your horns scattered them abroad.

And therefore I will save my flock.

They shall no longer be prey.

I will judge between sheep and sheep.

I will establish one shepherd over them.

He shall feed them my servant David.

That's a prophecy of Jesus Christ.

He shall feed them and be their shepherd.

I the Lord will be their God and my servant David a prince among them.

I the Lord have spoken.

And so here we have a prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ as the good shepherd.

And he's expressed in terms of David because the original promise was to David that his

he would have a perpetual everlasting dynasty.

But Micah gives an additional word about the nature of this promised son of David.

In verse 3b of Micah 5 we read these words regarding the coming Messiah who's going forth

or from old from everlasting.

That is one of the most amazing statements of the Old Testament.

Here's a declaration of the divine pre -existence of the promised son of David.

This is one of the clearest statements of the Old Testament scriptures of the deity of Jesus Christ the son of

David.

And the footnote in the Reformation study Bible states the matter clearly.

Micah has certainly learned that the ruler's origin long predates his anticipated

future coming.

A more than human figure is involved.

The son of David who will one day be born he's from everlasting.

And so the son of David is not only the physical offspring of David but he's also the eternally

begotten son of God.

Regarding his human nature Jesus Christ is the son of David.

Regarding his divine nature he is the son of God.

There never was a time when there was not the son of God.

The doctrine of the trinity speaks of the eternal identity and existence of God the father

the eternal existence and identity of God the son and the eternal identity existence of the Holy

Spirit.

There never has been a time when the son of God did not exist.

Now when we speak of the only begotten son of God some might assume this is a reference to God causing Jesus

to be born in the world through the Virgin Mary.

But that would be wrong.

When we speak of Jesus Christ being begotten of the father we're describing the son of God as having been

eternally begotten of the father.

Some have wrongly believed that God the son only came to exist as the son of God when the incarnation

occurred when he was born in Bethlehem.

This is wrong.

The second person of the holy trinity was begotten of the father from eternity.

That does not mean there was a time in eternity past when God begot him but rather he's eternally

begotten.

This is critically important.

There never was a time when God as father did not exist.

And there was never a time when God as son did not exist.

And Herman Baving one of my favorite theologians he was a Dutch guy.

His works have only been translated by the Dutch Translation Society headed up by Joel Beakey in the

last 20 years he addressed this matter quite convincingly.

The church confesses its belief in the eternal character of this generation speaks of

Christ's begetting the Aryans that was a heresy that did not believe in the deity of

Jesus but just as humanity the Aryan said that there was a time when the son did not exist

like the Mormons like the Jehovah's Witnesses they appealed especially to the

words he brought me forth or created me in Proverbs 8 22 and pointed out the

antimony between the terms eternal and begetting.

But if the father and the son bear their names in a metaphysical sense as scripture

incontrovertibly teaches it follows that the generation in question has to be

eternal as well.

For if the son is not eternal then of course God is not the eternal father either.

He has to be a father of someone.

In that case he was God before he was father and only later in time became father.

It makes God changeable mutable robs him of his

divine nature deprives him of the eternity of his fatherhood and leaves unexplained how God can truly and

properly be called father in time.

If the basis for calling him father is not eternally present in his nature we must

accordingly conceive the generation as being eternal.

In the true sense of that word it was not something that was completed and finished at some point in eternity

but an eternal unchanging act of God at once always complete eternally ongoing.

Just as it is natural for the sun to shine and for a spring to pour forth water.

So it's natural for the father to generate the son.

The father is not and never was unregenerative.

He begets everlastingly.

The father did not by a single act beget the son and then release him from his genesis.

But the father generates him perpetually.

For God to beget is to speak and his speaking is eternal.

God's offspring is eternal.

That's essential to a biblical understanding of the trinity because God does not change

or he's not God.

Herman Bavinck was absolutely right in his comments.

And Micah declares this truth.

The son of David is eternally begotten son of God whose goings forth are from of old from

everlasting.

Incredible statement in the old testament of the second person of the holy

trinity.

Well then thirdly we read that Micah predicts the messiah's protection of his people and his

defeat of his people's enemies.

In verse 4a.

He shall stand and feed his flock.

And the strength of the lord and the majesty of the name of the lord is God and they shall abide.

This is confirmed in the new testament by our lord's own words John 10.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd gives us life for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd.

I know my sheep and am known by my own.

Now we read in Micah that this promised son of David be the one who would be the ruler of Israel.

That's how Micah 5 reads.

The one who would be ruler of Israel.

However in Matthew's quotation of Micah these words regarding Jesus read.

Who will shepherd my people Israel.

And we've already shown you know the old testament shepherd was the ruler the king.

So it says the same thing.

And here in Micah verse 3 5 verse 3 the prophet says his coming son of David would feed his flock.

There's the idea of shepherding.

So it's there too again the analogy of the work of a shepherd.

And so this idea is ideas conveyed in Jeremiah 23 in the denunciation of the shepherds

leaders of Israel just like we read in the other passage.

There we read in Jeremiah woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture

says the Lord.

Therefore that says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed my people.

You've scattered my flock driven them away not attended them.

Behold I will attend to you for the evil of your doing says the Lord.

But I will gather the remnant of my flock.

Notice just a remnant that would include the disciples

and all the Jewish people.

In the early church they were all Jewish until expanded to the Gentiles.

A remnant of my flock out of all countries where I've driven them and bring them back to

their foes and they shall be fruitful increased.

And I will set up set up shepherds over them who will feed them.

There's the new kind of shepherd pastors the apostles.

And they shall fear no more nor be dismayed.

Nor shall they be lacking says the Lord.

Behold the days are coming says the Lord.

I will raise to David a branch of righteousness prophecy of the Messiah.

A king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.

And in his day Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely.

Now this is his name by which he will be called the Lord our righteousness.

Jeremiah 23 one through six.

And so God would call and equip the coming son of David empowering him to accomplish his work of ministry.

And we read that this shepherd will serve in the strength of the Lord and in the majesty of the

name of the Lord his God.

And the result of this shepherd's rule will be the security of his people.

Michael says of them.

And they shall abide.

This shepherd keeps his own.

Not one of them is lost and did not our Lord himself say my sheep hear my voice.

I know them.

They follow me and I give them eternal life.

And they shall never perish.

Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.

My father who is greater than all has given them to me.

He's greater than all.

No one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand.

Well this was prophesied in Micah chapter 5.

There is security in Christ whom the Lord calls to himself.

He keeps secure.

He will keep them.

They shall abide in the strength of the Lord.

He preserves his own people under the time when we were called into his glorious presence.

And then lastly we have the promise that the promised son of David would be king over all the

world.

This isn't talking about a future thousand -year Jewish millennium on earth.

It's talking about this church age.

We're in the age of the kingdom.

Not only would Jesus Christ save a remnant of Jews but he would save the Gentile world.

Also the gospel would go out into the world.

And so the conclusion of Micah's prophecy speaks of the great reign of the promised son of David even the son of God.

For now he shall be great where just in the nation of Israel to the ends of the earth.

And this one shall be peace.

This son of David will not only redeem and restore the remnant of his brethren.

The salvation that he bestows upon all those in his kingdom will even be to the ends of the earth.

And that encompassed Gentile nations.

This is a prophecy of the worldwide extension to the kingdom of God to include Gentiles along with the

remnant of Jews who would be saved through this king's work of salvation.

We might consider the words of God the father.

Actually it's not God.

The father is Jesus Christ speaking prophetically of himself of what the father declared to

him.

And there we read the prophetic words of Jesus Christ telling of his father's purpose to install

him not only as king of the Jews but of the Gentiles also over all the Israel of God.

This occurred when Jesus came forth from the cross in his grave to be seated on the throne of God.

And so here's Isaiah 43 750 years before the birth of Christ.

And yet these are the words of Jesus Christ speaking prophetically.

Now the Lord says he's talking about God the father who formed me from the womb to be his servant.

Jesus is the great servant of God to bring Jacob back to him speaks about

wayward Jews under his wrath to restore them recover them so that Israel is gathered

to him.

For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength.

Indeed he says this is the father speaking to Jesus.

It's too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob.

That's not enough for you just to save a remnant of Jews and to restore the preserved ones the remnant of Israel.

I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles so that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

And that's what Micah declares in Micah chapter 5.

Verse 4b and 5a.

And the last word regarding Jesus Christ is God's promise that through him he would bring peace to his

people.

And so verse 5a reads.

And this one shall be peace.

One might ask how can a remnant of Jews and a multitude of Gentiles all be brought into one flock

characterized by peace a nation of peace the kingdom of God over which this promised good shepherd

will rule.

Yes Jews and Gentiles.

How can that be.

Paul answered that question.

In Ephesians 2 14.

He reads of Jesus.

For he himself is our peace who has made both Jew and Gentile.

One has broken down the middle wall of separation that would be the Mosaic covenant

having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances as a

covenant for the Jews so as to create in himself one new man from the two Jews and

Gentiles thus making peace.

And this was prophesied in Micah chapter 5 verse 5a.

He is our peace.

God foretold this glorious incarnation of Jesus Christ the Son of David the Son of God who's been reigning as

Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

He is the King of Israel.

And we are citizens fellow citizens with the Saints of the Commonwealth of Israel.

Ephesians chapter 2.

Because of our connection with the Son of David he is our Lord.

He's our King.

We're members of the true Israel of God.

Thank God.

And if that was understood that would sure clear up a lot of nonsense and a lot of political error too

in today's world.

Let's pray.

Thank you our Father for your word and for the clarity our God that we see even in the Old

Testament.

Help us our God to be delivered from all the nonsense and error that to which we're exposed.

Help us to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the the eternal Son of God who assumed the human nature and

realization of the glorious promises to King David.

And he's ruling even now as the Son of David even as your Son our Father.

And so we pray you'd help us our God to understand this and see this more clearly and

bring glory to our Lord Jesus that is that is his by right his

earned by his life and his death his resurrection.

And help us our God to tell forth this glorious news of the kingdom of God in our world.

The gospel of the kingdom that many would come to repent of their sin and believe on Jesus

as Lord and Savior and be wonderfully saved.

And join us our God as your people in serving you and serving one another in Jesus name

amen.