The Shepherd-King

Alright, it's good to see you all this morning.

We're moving on from Isaiah 9 in our Advent series, and we're going to be in

Micah 5.

Micah 5, that's just before the book of Nahum, and that's right after

the book of Jonah.

It's between Jonah and Nahum.

We're in the prophecy or oracle of Micah 5.

Today's sermon is titled, The Shepherd King.

The Shepherd King.

We're going to be in verses 1 -4 today of Micah 5.

Let's read that now.

Here are the words of the Lord.

Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops.

They have laid siege against us.

With a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.

But as for you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans

of Judah.

From you, one will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.

His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.

Therefore, He will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has born a child.

Then the remainder of His brethren will return to the sons of Israel.

And He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of

the Lord His God.

And they will remain.

Because at that time, He will be great to the ends of the earth.

Thus ends the reading of God's holy and marvelous Word.

Let's pray once more as a church as we approach the text.

God, I pray that You would enlighten the Scriptures today for Your people by the Holy Spirit.

God, that You would reveal to us the truths in this wonderful and glorious

Word.

God, I pray that we would see the incarnation, the coming of Christ in the

marvelous way that it truly is, God.

Show us, Lord, what You've done for us.

Show us, Lord, what You've done for Your people in sending Your Son.

And God, I pray also today that this would be cause of great joy for us.

That as Christians, we have every reason to rejoice.

And so I pray that that would be in the hearts and minds of Your people this morning.

Please help me to preach this Word today, Lord.

I need You, God.

And please help Your people to be focused on You.

Pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.

Well, church, Micah is called one of the minor prophets.

There's the major prophets.

You have Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel.

Then you have what's called the minor prophets.

Obadiah, Nahum, Jonah, Micah, Malachi.

They're called the minor prophets.

That's the name that theologians have come up for them.

This is a prophecy of one of the minor prophets, and yet it

could not be said that Micah wasn't a mighty prophet.

He's a mighty prophet.

Micah's ministry ran for about 20 years.

He was used by God at the very same time that Isaiah was alive.

Micah saw three different kings occupy the throne in Judah, and Micah's

prophecies were delivered in that southern kingdom in Judah.

Remember, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

They were split after the time of Solomon.

And so, Micah's down in the south.

By this time, in the 700s B .C., the northern kingdom of Israel was already taken

away.

They're already gone.

They've been taken by Assyria.

We talked about that in the last two sermons in Isaiah.

Now, Micah spoke the truth.

And he spoke the truth during the benevolent reign of King Uzziah.

And he even spoke the truth during the reign of Ahaz.

Ahaz was the son of Uzziah, and he was a wicked man.

He was a wicked king of Judah.

And then, something amazing happens, and from this wicked king Ahaz

comes the king Hezekiah.

Hezekiah was a righteous king.

And it's interesting, Hezekiah wasn't perfect by any means, but it was through Micah.

Micah warned Hezekiah that judgment is coming, and he told Hezekiah to repent.

And King Hezekiah listened to Micah the prophet, and he repented, and God

stayed his hand from sending judgment upon Jerusalem.

He was going to forbear his judgment.

A little while longer.

It wouldn't happen during Hezekiah's reign.

Micah rightly predicted the fall of the northern kingdom Israel.

In fact, it was, as I told you, during Micah's life that the northern Israelite kingdom was

taken captive by Assyria.

We talked about that.

The north was gone.

It was enslaved.

They were held captive.

Gloom and darkness started to prevail.

It came over the land.

And it even started to head south.

Gloom and darkness and oppression.

And Judah was in a similar fate.

Things were changing for the southern kingdom.

They had some righteous kings, but eventually, those righteous kings would go

away.

And wickedness would rule in the land.

And at this time, during Micah's reign, I'm sorry, during Micah's ministry, what

was happening in the southern kingdom was that the rich were oppressing

the poor.

The rich people were even seizing the land of the poor people.

They were taking all that they had.

Political and religious leaders were becoming more and more corrupt every year.

And in that way, eventually, when you have the religious realm and you have the

political realm corrupt, that streams down to the family realm.

And even to the individual.

Corruption was starting to come to everybody.

For that reason, Judah and its inhabitants were facing the same warnings of judgment and calls to

repentance that the northern kingdom just had.

Repent!

Judgment's coming!

Judgment's coming.

Assyria will take you away.

That's what the northern prophets were telling them, but they're gone.

And now, the southern prophets are telling this kingdom the same thing.

God's going to judge you.

He's going to send His judgment.

And Micah was able to point to the fact, look, they're already gone.

Darkness has spread throughout the entire land.

It's even touched Judah.

It went everywhere.

And so, Micah's oracle, his entire oracle, his entire prophecy, this whole book

of Micah goes back and forth between two things.

Micah goes back and forth between the warnings of imminent judgment from God

to the covenant people of God, and then it swings back to messages of

hope and redemption.

That even though this may happen, this terrible judgment may come to Judah, God also promises this,

that even if this comes, I'm going to bring salvation.

I'm going to save a remnant.

They will be faithful.

In fact, in the chapter just previous to ours today, we're in Micah 5, in

Micah 4, Micah prophesies that one day, the mountain

of the Lord will be established as the chief of all mountains, raised above the hills in all

people, it says, and that all the nations will stream up to the mountain of God.

Miraculously, all types of people from all types of nations will come and say this.

This is what he says.

This is what the people will say in that day.

Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord that He may teach us His ways

and that we may walk on His paths.

This is one day.

Salvation's coming.

God's mountain will be the chief mountain and even pagans and Gentiles and people of all types

will stream up to the mountain of God and they'll want to learn from God, walk in His ways, experience His salvation,

and that's what's coming.

He even says that the swords that they carry for war will be hammered into

plowshares for harvest.

He says basically all their forms of armament, their

spears will even be sharpened into pruning hooks to cut vegetation and

to perform harvests.

That sounds a bit like our passage from Isaiah the past two weeks, right?

Isaiah said harvest is coming.

It's going to be plentiful.

They're even going to take their boots and their uniforms from warfare and they're going to throw them into a

fire.

They're not even going to be necessary anymore.

That's what Isaiah said.

And so as chapter four ends of Micah, the Lord speaks through Micah and tells

them that Babylon is coming for them.

That's what He says at the end of chapter four.

Babylon will come for you.

He tells them that.

He warns them.

There will be exile for a time.

In fact, it was 70 years.

70 years of exile.

And Babylon will think it has won.

And Babylon and the kings of Babylon will think, oh, we've destroyed every memory of the Lord.

We've destroyed every memory of Yahweh.

But God then warns the wicked Babylonians in Micah chapter four.

He says, you don't know the thoughts of mine.

You don't understand my purpose, says the Lord.

You're going to be, He tells us the Babylon, the people who are going to come and take away His people.

He says, you're going to be like dead leaves at the threshing floor.

That's what's going to happen.

And so at this time, when this enemy thinks they've won, God will send a

mighty one from Zion to destroy all the works of the enemy.

When the enemy thinks that it has prospered and won the lands and darkness is over everything,

at that time, the enemy will be embarrassed and humiliated and made a spectacle.

Because God says, I'm sending someone and he's coming to destroy everything you've done.

He will rise from Zion, the mountain of God.

And that's where we start in verse one, okay?

The enemy's coming.

Look at Micah chapter five, verse one.

What does he say?

Micah says, now muster yourself in troops, daughters of troops, daughter of the

troops.

They have laid siege against us.

With a rod, they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.

They're coming.

Muster the troops.

Be ready.

And so Micah has just called Zion a daughter.

Jesus uses female pronouns when He speaks of Jerusalem.

He says, her, the city, uses female language.

And so Micah's using that here.

Zion is often called by its female Hebrew name.

Micah yells to all the people, marshal your troops, O city of her troops.

Marshal your troops, get ready.

They've laid siege against us.

And this is in the perfect tense in the Hebrew, meaning a siege has been laid and it will

continue to be laid against them until this deliverer comes.

The siege will continue to happen.

The onslaught will keep coming at them until this deliverer comes.

And some have said that this is in reference to Sennacherib, who is king of

Assyria at this time.

He marched on Jerusalem in 701 BC, just 21 years after the Assyrians

took Israel into captivity.

That's the siege that Hezekiah repented from at the preaching of Micah.

And Zion was spared.

But this also prophetically points to the siege that will take place by

King Nebuchadnezzar on Judah 110 years from now.

110 years from this point, from this prophecy, Babylon's coming, King

Nebuchadnezzar's coming.

And when you think about God's judgment on His people, you see from the beginning, whether it be

Egypt that ruled over them or neighboring nations like the Philistines or the Amalekites,

or the Assyrians and the Babylonians and eventually the Greeks and the Romans are going to

oppress and occupy the land of Israel, you've seen from the very beginning that

God has used foreign invasion and servitude

as His instrument of judgment.

When you think about it, there was a first invasion on mankind.

The very first invasion, foreign invasion, was recorded in Genesis.

And it wasn't to be a judgment from God.

This snake, this serpent slithered into the garden, first foreign invader that there

ever was.

God allowed a test of faithfulness, if you will, and it happened to Adam and Eve.

The enemy, the serpent, invaded the garden and they actually wanted to serve

the enemy over God.

They wanted to obey His Word.

He said, did God say that?

Why don't you just eat of the fruit?

Why don't you just do this?

And they obeyed the enemy, the foreign invader over God.

And so ever since that moment, rebellion was paid for or punished by, I should

say, more foreign invasion.

And so in other words, when you have slavery to sin, in God's

economy, there will be slavery to oppressors for His covenant people.

If they're in sin, enslaved to sin, He'll enslave them even to foreign

invaders.

And that's the cycle, isn't it?

If you read the Old Testament, the common theme is the people of God are blessed by Yahweh,

they enjoy His blessing, and then they turn against Him, and they go after their sin and their idols, and God

sends foreign oppressors, and they're like, Lord, deliver us.

And then all of a sudden after they're delivered, they say, okay, we're going to worship You

only and observe Your law only.

We're only going to honor You.

And then they go back, they sacrifice their children to Molech.

They sacrifice things to idols.

They cut themselves, they do orgies, they do sexual perversion, they have temple sex prostitutes.

And this cycle kept going.

Terrible things, terrible things.

Killing their own children.

Then boom, send a deliverer.

Help us.

And so that's some of the things that happened.

At these later years before they were exiled, the biggest thing was not necessarily the child

sacrifice and the sex cults, it was the continued oppression of the needy.

The continued oppression of the fatherless, the widow, the poor, the sojourner.

And so God is going to send them to Babylon.

That's what it says here.

Get your troops ready, Zion.

And Babylon will go so far that, quote, with a rod they will smite the judge of Israel

on the cheek.

That's what it says here in verse one.

They will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.

And this speaks to the very last king of Judah.

This is Zedekiah.

Zedekiah.

Does anyone know who the last righteous king in Judah there ever was?

Anyone?

Josiah, right?

Think I heard it.

Josiah was the last righteous king.

He was made a king in his youth.

And not only did he love God and observe God's

law, he was actually a king who tore down all the high places.

So you read the book of Kings and Chronicles, and it says, well, this was a righteous king.

And he loved the Lord,.

But he didn't tear down the high places.

Well, Josiah really did reform over the whole nation.

He was the last one.

And from Josiah, every king preceding him in Judah would be

wicked.

And Zedekiah is one of the worst.

And so it's interesting that right here in the Hebrew, Zedekiah isn't referred to as a

king.

He's referred to as the simple word judge.

He's a judge of Israel.

He's been demoted in God's eyes.

He's smaller than what he is to be.

He's sullied and tarnished the office of the king.

He's just called a judge of Israel.

And in Micah, he calls the I Am, he calls God the king.

God's the true king in chapter two.

Zedekiah is just a wicked judge.

And 2 Kings 25 speaks to when he was struck.

Go to your printout if you want to, if you want to follow with me.

2 Kings 25, this is the last king of Judah.

What happened to him when Babylon came?

Here it is, 2 Kings 25, four through seven.

Then the city of Jerusalem was broken into and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the

gate between the two walls beside the king's garden.

Though the Chaldeans, and that's another word for Babylonians.

Though the Chaldeans were all around the city and they went by the way of the Arabah.

But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king,.

This is Zedekiah,.

And overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his army was scattered from him.

Then they captured the king Zedekiah and they brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

And Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him.

They slaughtered every single one of the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.

Then they put out his eyes.

The eyes of Zedekiah were ripped out and they bound him with bronze fetters and brought

him to Babylon.

So Zedekiah's fate matched his own spiritual blindness.

He's spiritually blind.

He's a wicked judge of Israel.

He's been demoted from kingship.

He's the last king.

He's spiritually blind and he's just been made physically blind.

He did not serve the Lord faithfully.

And I think it's incredible.

God had to take the office of human king away

in preparation for his son.

There would be no king of the line of David on the throne in Jerusalem.

You could say Herod all you want.

Herod was not related to the king bloodline.

Zedekiah is the last king and God will remove anyone in place

for his son to come.

And so who is the rightful heir of David?

Who is the one who should take the throne?

Who will be righteous?

Who won't lead the people astray?

What hope do the inhabitants of Zion have after so much siege warfare?

So much darkness.

Verse two, God speaks.

Here it is.

God says, but as for you Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the

clans of Judah.

From you, one will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel.

His goings forth are from long ago from the days of eternity.

So he says, basically Bethlehem.

From Bethlehem of all places.

Everyone considers Jerusalem.

Everyone calls it the holy land.

Everyone knows Jerusalem.

It's the city of the king.

It's known as the place of strength.

Excuse me.

Where God dwells.

But a small town, here's Jerusalem, okay.

Jerusalem's up on a low elevation mountain.

So you have to actually walk uphill to get to Jerusalem whether you're coming from any direction.

But just south of Jerusalem, six miles, I think it's 6 .2 miles, just south of

Jerusalem is Bethlehem.

Just six miles south of it.

And that's the place of focus for this prophecy.

Six miles south of the city of the king is Bethlehem.

Ephrathah is the name of the region that the town was in.

Ephrathah means fruitful, while Bethlehem means house of bread, okay.

Now, Micah has to mention Ephrathah for a specific reason and I know the reason well.

I remember growing up, I was born in Southern California.

Don't hold it against me, right.

I was born in Southern California and I grew up in a town called Newbury Park.

And you know, whether it be relatives or friends and when

you're a kid and a grownup's like, so where do you guys live?

And you're like, ah, why are you talking to me first, number one.

But then you're like, oh yeah, where do we live?

And I'm like, we live in Newbury Park.

And they go, what's Newbury Park?

And then I'd go, we live in Ventura County.

And they'd go, oh yeah, Ventura, Ventura County.

Yeah, yeah, I know where that is.

And that's what I would have to say as a kid growing up.

We live in Ventura, nobody knew Newbury Park.

And that's kind of what's the contrast that Micah's trying to make here.

Bethlehem, everyone knows Ephrathah, everyone knows Jerusalem, but Bethlehem,

it's too little to be among the clans of Judah.

It's too little, it's too small.

Do you know a clan was a military unit of a thousand men?

A thousand men was a clan.

But they were not even big enough to have a thousand fighting men.

There were the 12 tribes of Israel, and within each 12 tribe there was many

clans.

Bethlehem was too tiny for clanship, okay?

Bethlehem couldn't be called upon and summoned for war.

It's just not big enough, too small.

And so the image we get is that this is an insignificant place.

It's a weak town.

And even now, in our culture, forever, there is a Christmas carol named after it, right?

A Little Town of Bethlehem.

So small.

The judge of Israel was struck down from the Babylonians.

So who could rise from Bethlehem?

Who will come from this small, no -name town in a place with no

military might?

God says, muster your troops.

The enemy's coming, and everyone thinks we've gotta get someone who's gonna fight for us.

We need a powerful king.

And then God goes, hey, someone's gonna rise from Bethlehem.

They don't even have a military.

They've got no one, what?

This place is called the House of Bread.

They grow wheat, there's shepherds there.

From that town, someone's gonna come and defeat our foes?

Laughable.

Laughable.

And so it's just like our Isaiah passages that we went over.

Somehow, the one who will have all rule upon His shoulders will be a child

born to us.

A son given.

A lowly baby.

A vulnerable human being.

Something that appears weak will be our strength.

Bethlehem just doesn't make sense.

And yet, He says, from you, Bethlehem, one will go forth from Me to be a ruler in Israel.

By now, Bethlehem is really only ever known for the place where Boaz met Ruth, the Moabitess.

That's where they got married.

And of course, the big thing that people know about Bethlehem is that's where the very first

king, the son of David, I'm sorry, the son of Jesse, David was born.

King David was born in Bethlehem.

And what's interesting, if you remember, when Samuel came to anoint the one son of

Jesse, he thought to go to all of David's older brothers.

He went to the oldest brother, he went to the next brother, he went to the next brother, and somehow, this little

teenage boy, shepherd boy, it says with ruddy hair, first ginger

of the Bible.

You got representation, brother.

Praise God.

This youngest and smallest young man was made a king.

Once again, God confounds the wise.

What?

Bethlehem, what?

The smallest and youngest of this family?

That's what's interesting.

And so now, from this city, from Bethlehem, will come the Messiah.

In the Hebrew, the Mashiach, the Messiah.

This is no doubt a messianic prophecy, full and full.

This is a messianic prophecy.

Even Herod later, centuries later, told the wise men from the east that

Bethlehem is the place where the Messiah will come from.

He told them that.

In John chapter seven, the people didn't understand why other people thought that Jesus was the Messiah.

They're like, he's from Nazareth.

Why do you keep following him, this Jesus of Nazareth, as if he's the Messiah?

He's from Nazareth.

And the people said, the Messiah's coming from Bethlehem.

They didn't know.

They didn't know, but do you see, what I'm saying is, at this point, everyone

understands from this prophecy that this is the Messiah.

This passage is about the Christ.

The Anointed One is what it means.

The Anointed One is coming from you, Bethlehem.

He will go forth from there for me.

He will be a ruler in Israel, not just in Judah, but in all of Israel.

This one will unite the tribes together, the north and the south.

And once again, just like Isaiah chapter nine, king or

melech in the Hebrew is not specifically used here.

I named this sermon the Shepherd King, but you can't find the Hebrew word for king here,

and that shouldn't alarm us.

I told you the past two weeks that the monarchs of Israel, human beings,

have ruined and tarnished that title.

That that's not good enough for Him.

He will be called King of Kings.

He won't just be called a king.

He's the King of Kings.

But even so, this word ruler, from you, Bethlehem, a ruler of Israel will

rise.

This word ruler is used to describe the Lord multiple times.

The divine God of Heaven gets this title ruler.

This one is better than a regular king.

He will have all rule.

And God says, He will go forth for me, right?

And if you think about it, if you were with us when we went over the Gospel accordion, John, how many times, it was over a

dozen times at least, that Jesus kept saying, I was sent by my Father.

I have gone forth from Heaven from my Father.

And that's speaking to this reality.

He will go forth for me, the Father says in this passage.

He will go forth for me.

And He will not only be for His Father, but this ruler will truly be for us,

because He truly is for the Lord.

He will do all things that the Father wants.

He will be obedient to the point of death.

He will bring the Father glory and praise.

Everything this ruler will do will be in line with the will of God.

It will be perfect.

Finally, perfect.

The most perfect king that has ever come.

And then the Lord says, His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.

And that seems like an oxymoron, right?

This new ruler will come from Bethlehem.

He will come from Bethlehem.

He will rise up from Bethlehem.

But His origin is from long ago.

His goings forth are from the days of eternity.

Where He came from is actually from long, long ago.

Days of eternity.

The Hebrew sentence here is attempting to construct that He is from eternity past.

He is no beginning.

No beginning.

He will come from Bethlehem, and yet at the very same time, that's what's amazing.

He will be born in Bethlehem, but His nature and

who He is, is from all eternity.

If you go as far back, thousands and thousands, no, no, you can't even say years.

Because there's no concept of time where He's from.

He's from eternity.

And that certainly goes in line with what Isaiah said.

Do you remember?

What was one of the titles of the child given to us?

Anyone remember?

You had Prince of Peace, you had Mighty God, and you had what?

Eternal Father.

Eternal Father.

Exactly right.

And so, this speaks to the very same thing.

Now, some people have said, well, this isn't the right construction for that.

He is from long ago, but there's arguments on how this is in the Hebrew.

And I won't get into that.

But the point is, this One from Bethlehem is linked to eternity.

He's linked then to David's bloodline.

He is the true King.

He'll be born in time and space, and yet He's from outside time and space.

His existence precedes His birth.

Now, Micah just quoted God, and in verse three, he goes back to divine prophecy, stating what will happen at the

time that this ruler of Israel comes.

Look at verse three.

Look at this.

Therefore, He will give them up until the time when she who is in labor

has born a child.

Then the remainder of His brethren will return to the sons of Israel.

So this ruler is gonna come.

That's what God says.

Micah quotes the Lord.

Then it goes back to Micah speaking, and he says that's gonna happen, but before that happens,.

First,.

God will give up His people until she who is in

labor has born a child.

Okay, that's coming.

But before that happens, you're going to Babylon.

Darkness is coming.

Zedekiah will die.

He'll be struck across the face.

His eyeballs will be ripped out.

And when this darkness has all reached a climax, when you've been

given up, then you'll see she who is in labor has

born a child.

And so deliverance isn't for now, it's for later.

This is a temporary national abandonment of God.

Okay?

We have a hard time with that, right?

That's what the Scripture says.

This is a temporary national abandonment.

If you remember in Ezekiel, it says that God's presence departed from the temple.

When He judged them, it says that He left.

He judged them.

He is determined to punish His people for all their betrayal, all their sin against Him and other people,

but He promises later He will be merciful.

He will be merciful and He will deliver them.

He's not giving to them anything that they don't deserve.

They deserve this punishment.

And in fact, according to God's law, they deserve worse.

But God will be merciful.

He's going to send someone.

The great city of Jerusalem will be destroyed.

The temple will be torn down.

It will be abominated and desolated.

And yet the Lord's abandonment is seen as temporary.

He has a plan.

Though it is dark,.

The morning light will dawn.

The calamity of Israel will be reversed.

Okay?

Curses will turn into blessings.

They will only be given up until the time through a special genealogy, through a remnant

bloodline, the ruler of Israel will come.

The time when she who is in labor is born a child.

A child will be born to us.

A son will be given.

And many have asked the question, who is the she in Micah chapter five, verse three?

Who's the she who has born the child?

And I'm certain that pretty much all of you would think immediately Mary.

It's Mary.

And that would put this passage right in line with Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14.

If you remember, it says, "'Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.

"'Behold, a virgin will be with a child and bear a son, "'and she will call his name Emmanuel, "'which means God

with us.'".

And in isolation, knowing what we know about the Gospels and coming to this text and knowing the

full story, that seems like an obvious identification.

I will say though, that if we were to have gone through Micah, okay, if we started in

Micah chapter one, verse one, and we did an expository series starting in

chapter one through all of Micah, and we came to this point, and Lord willing, we may do that in the future, we would

find that the Hebrew word for a pregnant woman here, Yoleda, has been

used figuratively for a faithful and believing remnant in Zion, okay?

That's what this word has been used for.

You know how I said at the beginning feminine pronouns have been given to Jerusalem, to Zion?

Well, that's also throughout the prophecy of Micah been used for a faithful remnant, a people who will stay

faithful to God, Yoleda, okay?

And Yoleda, from Yoleda, from this faithful,

female, believing remnant, will come this ruler.

And that really does seem to fit in Micah's context.

It goes with the rest of the Hebrew here, and taking this verse in isolation

obviously makes us think immediately of Mary.

But when we look at this, it says, after she, the faithful remnant of Zion,

has born this child, then the remainder of his brethren, the remainder of the

faithful remnant, will return to the sons of Israel.

There will be a future again.

There is a hope.

And those who were cast away and abandoned will be adopted back and become the children

of God.

They will be sons again because of this ruler from Bethlehem.

You know what I think?

Even though that that's true to the Hebrew and that's true to the context and as a preacher and

someone who studies the Word of God so intently, and I see that that's the

case, I do think that, in my own opinion, I think the Lord

left the she unidentified so we would understand that it's both.

It is Mary.

It is no doubt Mary, and it is the faithful remnant of Zion who stayed

with God to the end.

It is the same thing.

I think that the Scripture wants us to think of her.

I think God wants us to think of her.

Mary was an upright young woman.

The angel of the Lord said that she was favored of God.

She was upright.

And when she visits Elizabeth, her cousin, they get together and Elizabeth

is pregnant with John the Baptist, and Mary's pregnant with Jesus, and

John the Baptist and Jesus are together in the wombs and it says that

John the Baptist leaps in his womb when he gets near Jesus.

An amazing moment, right?

Already knowing that the Messiah is near.

But what's amazing is in that moment, when Mary tells her cousin Elizabeth what

happened and the angel came to me and the angel said that I'm going to bear the Messiah

and they're talking about these things, it says that they're full of so much joy they can't believe it.

They say, can you believe that the Lord is finally fulfilling what He promised so

long ago?

They're so very excited.

They can't believe it.

They're in awe of what's happening.

God has spoken so long ago of this moment and they say, can you believe this is it?

And then Mary speaks from her heart and not only her heart, but the

heart of all those who have been faithfully waiting.

You see, Mary is, in the Gospels, the representative of the

faithful remnant who have been waiting for the Messiah.

You see, many people have already gone astray.

They don't care anymore.

Darkness is all over the land, but God said, I will preserve for myself a faithful remnant.

And in the Gospels, Mary and Joseph are representatives of this

faithful Zion who's waiting for the Messiah.

And you know what happens?

One of the most amazing texts in all of Scripture in Luke

1, verses 46 through 55, look in your printout or look in your Bible, Luke 1,

46 through 55, this is what's called the Magnificat.

The Magnificat.

This is the song of Mary.

When she is just overwhelmed with the blessing of God, when she realizes what

God is doing, when she's done visiting her cousin Elizabeth, she turns her

eyes to heaven and this is what Mary says.

She represents all the faithful remnant.

Here we go.

And Mary said, my soul exalts the Lord and my spirit has

rejoiced in God my Savior.

For He has had regard for the humble state of His slave.

For behold, from this time on, all generations will count me blessed.

For the Mighty One has done great things for me and holy is His name.

And His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him.

He has done mighty deeds with His arm.

He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones, see that?

And has exalted those who were humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things and sent away the rich empty -handed.

He has given help to Israel, His servant, in remembrance of His mercy as He spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and his descendants forever.

She speaks on behalf of all those who have waited.

God, You promised Abraham.

Lord, You promised Abraham so long ago.

You told our fathers.

You spoke to Abraham.

You spoke to Isaac.

You spoke to Jacob.

You spoke to David.

You promised us.

And it's finally come.

It's finally happened.

This is going to impact not just Israel.

Mary doesn't even realize that this Messiah will change the entire world.

That's what's happening.

Now back to Micah, okay?

After the ruler is born and he calls his elect and they come to him, verse four.

The brethren are going to come back.

Now verse four.

He will arise and shepherd them.

When they come back, He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord, His God,

and they will remain.

Because at that time, He will be great to the ends of the earth.

This is our last verse.

So the Messiah will arise.

It means He will take His stand upon the earth.

In other words, He will begin to rule over the world.

Psalm chapter two, verse six says, but as for me, I have installed my King upon Zion, my

holy mountain.

That's the Father speaking of His Son, speaking of this Messiah.

And so the Messiah is inaugurated as King and ruler over all kingdoms.

The kingdom of God.

And the institution of His government will be through shepherding.

That's how He's going to lead.

He's not going to lead with the strong arm.

He's not going to lead with slavery or domination.

It says here He's going to be a shepherd.

That's how He will rule, okay?

He will shepherd His flock.

This is far from the warrior or politician that they were hoping for.

A shepherd is the image of a man with a sacrificial life.

He makes very little.

Shepherds were considered even some of the lowest people in society that sometimes in a court of law,

they would not even consider a shepherd to be a credible witness.

Oh, he's just a shepherd.

He's like a nobody.

But God flips things around.

He's going to be a shepherd.

He will shepherd His flock.

Sacrificial, it's a hard life.

It's a life of love.

It's a life of care for creatures that often run away from you.

If you've ever been to a farm where you have domesticated animals or maybe you

have sheep, you know, some of you have seen it.

They run away from you.

They bite you.

It takes a special kind of person who would rule them with care, who would

reign with tenderness.

And so this is who this ruler will be in Israel.

He will come from Bethlehem.

He will have all dominion.

He will have all authority, but he will be like a shepherd.

And he's of the royal line of David.

In fact, Ezekiel 34 combines these two things.

The Messiah shepherd and the line of David.

Listen to this.

Ezekiel 34, 22 through 24.

God says this, therefore, I will deliver my flock and there will no longer be prey.

And I will judge between one sheep and another.

Then I will set over them one shepherd, just one.

And he identifies him by saying, my servant David, and he will feed them.

He will feed them himself.

And he will be their shepherd.

And I, the Lord, will be their God.

And my servant David will be prince among them.

I, the Lord, have spoken.

And so he calls this new ruler who rises from Bethlehem.

He calls him my servant David, but David's been dead for hundreds of years.

And he's not coming back.

He's speaking of this one from Bethlehem, this Messiah who shares in the bloodline

of David.

He will be like David, but even better.

As one commentator states, David was a shepherd and so is his fulfillment,

the royal shepherd.

And he will lead, he will feed, he will protect his flock from the lions and bears.

And this ruling shepherd will be endowed with Beaz Yahweh.

That's what it says here.

This shepherd will rule, look it, with the strength of the Lord.

The strength of Yahweh.

He will exercise divine strength to protect his flock.

Not any of them have had this before.

This shepherd will have the strength of God.

Completely different.

Remember from our passage in Isaiah, he is El Gabor, he is mighty God.

He has all strength and all power.

He can do what David could never do.

He will shepherd his people in perfect righteousness forever and without failure

and in perfect power.

And not only will he rule in the strength of the Lord, it says here in verse four, it will be in the

majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

This is regal authority.

This is royal power.

He will have preeminence that God alone has.

This one will be the divine shepherd king.

That's who this is.

And so as a result of who this ruler is and how he will rule, the flock will remain.

Do you see that?

The flock will remain.

It literally means in the Hebrew that they'll dwell in safety forever.

Psalm chapter four verse eight says, in peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, make me to

dwell in safety.

You alone, O Lord.

No one else can do this.

No one else can make you and I remain.

No one else can make you and I dwell in safety.

But Psalm chapter four says, you alone, O Lord, can do that.

But it says here in Micah five, that this one who is from the Lord, who is the Lord, who is the

Messiah of the line of David, he will cause us to dwell in safety.

He will make us remain.

He is no ordinary ruler.

Only the perfect shepherd can make it so that not one of his sheep are lost.

Only the perfect shepherd can do that.

And you see that in John chapter 10 verses 27 through 28.

What does Jesus Christ say?

Jesus Christ says, I am the good shepherd.

He says, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me, and I give them

eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my

hands.

Jesus Christ in John 10, the good shepherd, fulfills all these passages.

He is the ruler from Bethlehem.

He is the ruler over all.

You see, think about what happened after the fall of man.

What happened?

What happened in the garden?

Man would not live forever now.

Man would now die.

Man would now perish.

Death has been coming for everyone since the day they were born.

Death is coming.

Ever since Adam and Eve's fall, but I told you that the great light was coming to the place of

death's shadow.

Death has always been around us.

It's always been looming over us.

But with this shepherd king from Bethlehem, we will never perish, Jesus says.

You will never perish.

He says, I am the good shepherd.

I give my sheep eternal life.

They hear my voice and they follow me.

And I give them eternal life.

They'll never perish.

No one will snatch them out of my hands.

Destruction is not in the future of Christ's sheep.

Perishing was to be our conclusion, but then Jesus stepped in, okay?

Those who believe in Jesus Christ today will never be destroyed.

No matter what it looks like.

No matter if it looks like they're going to perish.

No matter how much you suffer.

No matter even when physical death touches you.

This is a different type of perishing.

You will not perish.

And you will never be snatched out of His hands.

Wolves can't grab us out of the shepherd's arms.

He loses none whom the Father has given Him.

And you know, it made me think of this story in March of 2012.

There was a news story in that year where this is not typical for

this town from what I understand.

In Henryville, Indiana in 2012, a woman

thought that these tornado warnings were nothing.

And so she went about her day and said, okay, we hear these sirens all the time.

The news talks about it, but it never touches us.

Never happens.

She didn't think it would come to her home, but this tornado did come to her home.

And this mother, her name is Stephanie Decker, she brought her children down to the basement.

She saw the tornado in view.

It was coming towards her house.

She couldn't believe it.

And so she takes her children and she rushes them down to the basement.

And she says that as quickly as she could, she put them down and she covered them with her

entire body.

She shielded her children with her entire body.

And then she held onto them with the most fierce grip.

And instantly, the house came off of the foundations.

The house was blown off of them.

Completely blown off.

Debris was flying everywhere, but she would not let go of her children.

She would not stop.

She protected them from the violence of the twister to the point that when all

the debris was flying, she didn't even flinch when the debris cut her legs off.

It completely cut her legs off.

And she held onto her children.

She didn't even flinch.

She held onto her children.

She would not let go.

She protected them.

And then her son, after the tornado had passed, he said, mom, let me go find someone.

And her boy ran out of her arms.

And like a good little boy, he found the rescue team.

And the rescue team came and saved his sibling.

And she survived.

They all survived.

And when they looked at the children, they couldn't believe it.

There was not even a scratch on either one of the children.

It was unbelievable.

It went all over that year in 2012.

It was truly God's grace that she and her children survived.

And she wouldn't let them go.

And so let me ask you, church, with that in mind, how much more will the Good

Shepherd keep His sheep?

How much more will the Lord protect you from falling out of His hands?

How much more will the Lord keep you from being stolen from Him?

Lord knows you couldn't even jump out of His arms if you wanted to.

He's got you.

The whirlwind can come for you, but even better than this woman.

Christ will never let you go.

Christ has you.

Christ has you in His arms.

He's got you.

Stephanie Decker was strong.

She was brave.

And I commend her this morning.

But how much more, church, will God hold you when the whirlwind comes?

Even to the point that He won't lose His legs for you, He'll give His life for

you.

That's what He'll do for you.

That's what God says.

And so Micah says here in our text, Micah 5, 4, they will remain.

They will dwell in safety when He comes.

And that's a promise.

No one will snatch you out of His hands.

Not one of you will perish.

Finally, the verse ends, because at that time, He will be great to the ends of the earth.

In the Hebrew, it actually says now.

Now when He comes, from that moment onward, He will be great, and His greatness won't be focused

only in Zion.

His greatness just won't be in Jerusalem.

His greatness will spread to the ends of the earth.

He's not a local Messiah.

He's a universal Messiah.

He's not a local king, but a king over all kings in heaven and on earth.

His rule is not relegated to one place.

His rule is not relegated to some clouds in heaven.

He's the ruler over everything and everyone.

This will touch everything and everyone.

I mean, goodness, think about it.

This happened.

And what's happening today?

You go into department stores, you go into grocery stores, you turn on secular radio, and you hear

right now, sinners, people who hate God singing songs, that

He's removing the curse far as it is found, that He is the incarnate deity,

that He is the One from Whom His blessings flow.

He rules the world with truth and grace.

Born that no one may die, right?

From the mouth of sinners is the declaration that the Ruler has come.

And it's impacted everyone.

It's incredible.

So let me finish with this.

Let me bring this full circle for you, okay?

This is the amazing twist at the end of Micah 5, and where it gets fulfilled.

Do you remember how I told you at the beginning of the sermon that Assyria already took Israel, the northern kingdom?

Micah here is telling the southern kingdom Judah that their judgment is coming soon as well, and it will

happen by the hands of the Babylonians.

Well, that happened.

The northern kingdom was taken, the southern kingdom was taken, it all happened.

But do you know what God did with that?

This is where it comes full circle, right here from Micah.

Among the Jews that were taken out of Jerusalem and brought into Babylon

was a specific man, okay?

Very specific man.

And you know what King Nebuchadnezzar would do?

He would take certain noblemen of other countries and he would put them in service in his royal

court.

And this man was chosen among all the Jews to be in his royal

court.

This man's name is Daniel.

Daniel was chosen to serve King Nebuchadnezzar and all the kings of the Medes and Persians

after him.

And if you remember the story in the book of Daniel, no magician, no soothsayer, no

wise man, no conjurer or diviner could tell Nebuchadnezzar what his dream meant

except for Daniel.

And Daniel comes forward and he rightly interprets King

Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

And so from that point forward in the book of Daniel in Daniel chapter four verse nine and Daniel

chapter five verse 11, Daniel, who was also given the new name Belshazzar became

the chief of magicians.

In the Hebrew, it's the chief of the magicians or better interpreted,

Daniel became the chief of the Magi.

The Magi.

The Magi were the priestly cast of the Babylonian, Median and Persian

empire.

Daniel, a God -fearing Jew became the leader of this religious sect

in this foreign pagan nation, a man who worshiped Yahweh alone.

And what a position to be in, to share the truth.

And so Daniel brought the message of the sacred scriptures

to these people.

He brought them to Babylon and he brought them specifically to the Magi.

And he told him, the Magi, Daniel told the Magi these prophecies.

Of the Lord, the Almighty.

And the Magi slowly began to learn about this Jewish Messiah who would not only be a

national savior for Israel, but a worldwide and eternal savior.

His goings forth are from the days of eternity.

He's divine.

He's eternal father. He's Prince of Peace.

He's mighty God.

And Daniel knew all these things.

He became the leader of the Magi and he educated all of them.

He told them the scriptures and they believed him, why?

Because he prophesied and rightly spoke from God.

Clearly a divine authority was over Daniel and they believed him.

And they learned these things.

And so for hundreds of years, hundreds of years went by until the time was

fulfilled.

And these stories of Daniel, the chief of the Magi of a Messiah who had come from the

nation of the Jews, who had come from a city called Bethlehem, was shared over and over and over

again, generation after generation.

So do you know where Micah 5, our passage is quoted in the New Testament?

Matthew chapter two.

Here's where it's fulfilled.

When certain Magi from the east remembered the prophecies of a shepherd king, they knew the

week's calculations, they knew the general area, and the star of Bethlehem lit

the way.

They anticipated his arrival.

It was time for the child to arise and shepherd his flock.

And it says in Matthew chapter two that the Magi rejoiced exceedingly

with great joy.

Remember, he will be great to the ends of the earth.

And it says in Matthew chapter two, they came and they fell before him and they

proskuneo, they worshipped him.

They worshipped him.

This is the child who would be born of this woman, this virgin.

A child born of the faithful remnant in Bethlehem.

And you know, church, here's my final words on this.

Here's the application for you today.

Think about the fact that they had to wait.

Think about the fact that the darkness grew in their day.

Think about the fact that God says here, you're gonna be given over to Babylon, but one is coming.

You're gonna be given over.

But then think about the fact that they had joy when he came.

Think about the fact that the Magi spared no expense.

They took a procession with them.

They spent tons of money to come from the east and go west to Jerusalem.

And they spent all that time on the road.

They waited a long time, but they had joy when they found him.

They had exceedingly great joy.

And I submit to you today, church, that if you're down in this season, if you've been

depressed during this Advent season, then look at

these people who had been through as much or worse than you and they had

joy for the Messiah.

They had exceedingly great joy for the Messiah.

And so I submit to you today that oftentimes people are down because we keep

looking at our past.

We look at our past sin.

We look at our previous trauma.

We look at our circumstances right now.

We look at the family member who hurt us or a family member passed away during this Advent season.

Or we look at ourselves.

But all that is to say at this time, all these people, Anna,

Simeon, the Magi, Mary, Elizabeth, Joseph, all these

people had been through so much for so long.

But when the Messiah came, they had joy.

Exceedingly great joy.

So church, that's what we're supposed to do today.

Shed the depression, shed the anxiety, shed the

downness that you've been having and look at the fact that these people went through all that they

did and when they saw Jesus, they were full of great joy and they worshiped Him.

And that's what I call us to do right now.

Let's do that right now.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, Lord, we come before You.

We thank You for Your Word.

It's so very perfect, Lord.

God, we thank You that this has been fulfilled.

We thank You, Lord, that Your Son has come.

He is the perfect ruler.

So many people were waiting for Him.

Even magicians, Magi from the East, people of all types were waiting for Him because He

came for people of all types.

He came for us.

And so, Lord, we confess today, God, our being down this season.

God, we confess that we've been feeling tons of cares and burdens and we haven't given them

to You.

God, we have so much reason to be full of joy today.

We're saved.

We will not perish.

You will never let anyone snatch us out of Your hands.

We have every reason to joy this season, to be full of it.

And so, God, I pray that You would help us to do that.

For those of us who are already full of joy, Lord, let it continue.

Let it continue always.

And for those of us who have been down, Lord, show us Your goodness.

Show us Your grace in this moment.

And help us to see Your majesty.

Help us to see that You're worthy of our joy.

You're worthy of our rejoicing.

And so, Lord, we give You all praise this morning.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

All right, church.

Well, before we get into the rest of the worship service, we're gonna worship God

in the taking of the elements this morning.

If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, having a confession of Christ as Savior and

Lord, baptized believer, please take of this table today.

Please enjoy of the elements and remain.