All right, so we are continuing on with our glimpses of the light of Messiah in the prophets. We'll light our candle here. And last week, we had our first prophetic light from the book of Isaiah, where The Messiah was identified for us as Immanuel, God with us. The song we just sang, A Little Town of Bethlehem, ends with that phrasing. Come to us, abide with us, our Lord Immanuel, God with us. And so that was our first prophetic view, that Isaiah gave us that light, that it will be God with us, that he would be born of a virgin, that he would become a stumbling block for many. But for those who believed in him, he would become the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. And today we get to look at another prophetic view, another light of Messiah. And this is from the prophet Micah. Micah lived at the same time as Isaiah, they ministered concurrently about 750 years before Christ. Like the prophet Isaiah, Micah denounced the sins of Israel and Judah, he warned them of judgment that God was sending because of their sin. He prophesied in chapter four of his prophecy that Judah would go into captivity in Babylon. And yet, from that place of captivity, God would redeem his chosen people. And in fact, in his prophecy in chapter 4, Micah addressed that there would be the loss of a king. It's actually the loss of a kingdom because of their sin, because of God's judgment on sin. But then from that point of the loss of the king, he pointed forward to Messiah, who would be the king, who would rise as a new king, bringing a restored kingdom. And so that's the, the light of hope that, that Micah gave to the people, uh, in his prophecy. And so, uh, we're going to start in chapter four. And, um, actually I want to just start reading at the beginning of chapter four, give us a little bit of the flow of, of the text here. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills. And people shall flow to it, and many nations shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways. that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples and shall decide for strong nations afar off. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But they shall sit, every man, under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all the peoples walk each in the name of its God, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forevermore. ever so in this portion of Micah chapter 4 he's given giving this wonderful picture of what the kingdom of Messiah is going to be like and it's certainly a picture of peace as each one sits underneath his vine and his fig tree and no one is afraid and That's the promise of peace under Messiah. And he talks about how, you know, the weapons of warfare will not be needed anymore. The swords will be beaten into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks. because there won't be war. Many nations will come back in verse two and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. So it's even talking about how under the Messiah, the nations of the world will come to worship the Lord at Jerusalem. That is the picture of hope. picture of peace that Messiah will bring. And then we continue on in verse six, in that day declares the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather those who've been driven away, and those whom I have afflicted, and the lame, I will make the remnant, and those who were cast off a strong nation, and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth, and forever more. And so here again, a picture of Those that previously would be outcasts rejected the lane. I mean, think about that. In most cultures of the world, when somebody is handicapped, lame, they're just neglected, forgotten, left to be beggars. under the Messiah. He said, I'll gather those ones out. I'll protect those ones, exalt those ones. And he's concerned for the weak, for the downtrodden, for the oppressed. And all of this is just giving us this general picture of what life under Messiah would be like. I want us to focus starting at verse eight with a specific aspect of this prophecy about Messiah and what it means for us, as well as the people of Israel. In verse eight, he starts off, and you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it shall come, the former dominion shall come, kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem. So we have this title that's given, Tower of the Flock. The Hebrew is Migdal Eder. And that's a shepherd's watchtower. So if you think about, they take their sheep out into the rolling pasture lands of Israel. up on one of the prominent hilltops of their pasture lands. They would build this watchtower so they could be up at a height and see down into the valleys around to keep an eye on their flocks. And it would become a resting place for the shepherd. It would have a enclosure around it so they could gather the sheep into it to protect them at night or protect them when they see that there are hazards. Beasts that are coming to attack them. And so here, God is using this picture of the tower of the flock, the Migdal Eder, and he uses that as a name saying, you, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it shall come the former dominion, kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem. There are two places where Old Testament actually gives us a location for two of these towers of the flock. One is mentioned in Genesis chapter 35, which is actually near the town of Bethlehem. The Mishnah, actually commentary on the Old Testament, mentions one near Jerusalem. But now God is using that term in connection with the restoration of his kingdom. And he's indicating by that that the Messiah is going to be a shepherd king like David. And that this king, this shepherd king, will restore the former glory and dominion of Israel. The remaining verses of chapter four then go on to describe how many nations would seek to destroy Israel. but they don't understand God's plan. Verse 12 says, but they do not know the thoughts of the Lord. They do not understand his plan that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor. Now it's talking about God gathering nations, those that are against Israel. They've been gathered as the sheaves at the threshing floor to be, to be beaten, uh, harvested, uh, and, and that those nations would be destroyed with that. Israel would be protected look at verse 13 arise and thresh Oh daughter of Zion for I will make your horn iron and I will make your hooves bronze You shall beat in pieces many peoples and shall devote their gain to the Lord their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth So here God is saying that under Messiah and Israel would be protected from these nations that sought to destroy her, and she would be able to turn the tables and destroy those enemies, demonstrating God's power. And that's one of the things that we see throughout history, that God has actually chosen Israel, this small people, this oppressed people, to demonstrate his power, his glory, his faithfulness, to keep his word, to protect them in the face of overwhelming odds. How many times throughout modern history have we seen where Israel is vastly outnumbered, the odds are not in their favor, and yet they come out on top in a conflict when others attack them. It's because God has been faithful and he's still doing this thing today that he prophesied almost 3000 years ago that he was going to do with Israel. And so this is a continuing promise that God has for the people of Israel that he is going to demonstrate his power, his glory through them to demonstrate to the nations of the world. his faithfulness and who he is and who his chosen people are. But then as we get into chapter five, actually the portion that Pete read for us this morning, he's describing, he's going back to this message of judgment. Because of the sins of Israel, that God was going to bring the Babylonians to attack Jerusalem and actually lay siege against Jerusalem and chapter five describes this siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the humiliation of the king of Judah, Zedekiah, which is described for us in second Kings chapter 25. It says, now muster your troops, O daughter of troops. Siege is laid against us with a rod. They strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. That's a picture of the humiliation of this king. But notice here, God is not even calling Zedekiah the king. He's calling him the judge of Israel because he was not carrying out faithfully the duties of a king. And God actually lowered him in the title to that, to be a judge rather than a king. And all of this was being done by God as a punishment For the sins of his people because God's purpose was that his people would repent and return to him That's why he was bringing the Babylonians. He's like you've turned away from me you you've seen what I did with the northern kingdom of Israel how I told them turn to me repent turn away from your sins and where I'll bring the judgment. And that exactly happened. Then he, he sent through many prophets, the warnings to Judah, look at your sister, Israel, how she is disobeyed. And the judgment that I've brought brought on them, repent, lest the same thing happened to you. And what happened? They didn't listen. They didn't repent. And so now the same thing is happening, but all the way through God is wanting them to repent. He's wanting them to turn from their sins, return to faithful obedience to him. And so now he says that the Babylonians coming in would serve as his tool to accomplish this purpose. But then he gives this message of hope starting in verse two, but you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, even though he's, verse one talks about the siege that is laid against Jerusalem and the horrible things that are happening, but, the contrast, but you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. So now, he pinpoints Bethlehem, and he uses the full name Bethlehem Ephrathah, because there's another town called Bethlehem up in northern Israel, in the tribe of Zebulun. And so, he uses the name Bethlehem Ephrathah to identify which Bethlehem am I talking about? Bethlehem means house of bread, Bethlehem. Efrath means fruitful. Taken together, it is the fruitful house of bread. Now, even as we think about that, what is one of the names, titles of Jesus that we find in the New Testament? I am the living bread, the bread of life. He came from the house of bread. Interesting tie-in there. here as Jerusalem is under siege, and they're going to lose the city, they're going to lose the kingdom. But he says, but you, Bethlehem, you house of bread, the house of fruitfulness, though you're too little to be among the clans of Judah, and I'll come back to talk about them all, but it was just a little village. But from you shall come forth for me. one who is to be ruler in Israel. So he's giving this picture of hope that this promise of the Messiah. So let's talk about Bethlehem a little bit. Here's our map. And so there's Jerusalem, five miles south is Bethlehem. Today, Bethlehem sits in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank. But It was just a little village. It was not a noteworthy location. The ancient name, as I mentioned, was Ephrath, meaning fruitful. When you think back to the time of Jacob, and as he was traveling back into the land with his family after being up with his father-in-law, Laban. And as they traveled down south of the area of Jerusalem, Jacob's wife, Rachel, died on the road to Ephrath, just a few miles outside of what became the town of Bethlehem. When she was giving birth to Benjamin in Genesis chapter 35 we find also that Bethlehem was the home of Naomi's family in the book of Ruth and you remember there was a famine in the land and And Ruth and her husband and their sons left Bethlehem because of the famine. They went across the Jordan River to the land of Moab because there was food there. And so they lived there. And then after her sons died, she came back to Bethlehem. She was a widow. Her sons had died, but she had her daughter-in-law Ruth that traveled with her. And of course, through the whole story of the Book of Ruth, what do we learn? Naomi and Ruth became the ancestors of King David. That was the beginning of the story of the family of David. in the town of Bethlehem. And then, of course, we get to the book of 1 Samuel, and we find that David was a shepherd boy of the family of Jesse, descendant of Naomi and Ruth. And God sent the prophet Samuel to Bethlehem to select the new king, to anoint the new king. But does anyone remember the story What happened when the prophet Samuel came to Jesse's house according to God's plan? What was strange or interesting about how that all went down as Jesse was told by Samuel, I'm here to select from your sons the new king. Bring your sons before me. What happened? Can you remember? Okay, so he brought his sons to Samuel, and starting at the oldest, one by one, they were presented to Samuel, and God said, no, not him. The next one, no, not him. The next one, no, not him. And all of the sons came before Samuel, and God rejected all of them. And of course, Samuel must have been thinking, wait a minute, something's wrong here. And so he asked Jesse, Are you sure this is all of your sons? Well, there's David, but he's out tending the sheep. He's just a little kid. Does it sound familiar to what we just read in Micah? But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are too little to be considered among the clans of Judah. That's exactly what happened to David. He was too little to be considered of any importance in the family of Jesse. And yet God chose him. And now God is choosing this insignificant little village. It's just a shepherding village. It's nothing! And God says, Oh, but I'm choosing the king from there. The king, the Messiah will come from this place, just as David, the greatest king of the kingdom of Israel came from that location. And one of the things that that we find in the way God describes all of this, is that God is saying that the king who is greater than David will come from this same place where David came from. And from Matthew's account, in Matthew chapter two, remember when the wise men came to Jerusalem and came to King Herod saying, we're coming to seek the king who is to be born, where can we find them and Herod asked his scribes to check the scriptures and find out where is this king prophesied to be born? And they came right here to Micah. And they said, it is written in the prophet, but you, O Bethlehem, from you will he come forth. Go to Bethlehem. That is where you'll find the king. They understood this as a prophecy of the Messiah, that the Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem. But then going back to the phrasing of verse two, where it says that his coming would be from of old, from ancient days. There are two aspects of meaning to this phrase. And both of them we find used in other parts of the scripture. The first thing that it indicates is that the ancient lineage of Messiah would be from the families of Bethlehem. His lineage, his ancestors would be from the ancient families of Bethlehem. Well, the only notable family from Bethlehem was David's family. And so this, even though David is not mentioned directly, the other hints that we've identified through this, even how Bethlehem is described as too little to be noticed, just like David was too little to be noticed, It seems to clearly indicate an intentional reference that Messiah was coming from the family of David. But the second aspect that we find here, where it says, from of old, from ancient days, that phrasing is also used to talk about eternality. In Psalm 74, 12, God is my king from of old. Habakkuk 1, 12, are you not from everlasting? Oh Lord, my God, the Hebrew phrasing is the exact same. There where it says from everlasting, it's from ancient days or ancient times. And so here, the Messiah is being spoken of as a shepherd king from Bethlehem, who is both a descendant of David and the eternal God. And imagine for the people of Israel to hear that and try to comprehend, how is this possible that the eternal God can be a descendant of David? And yet it was prophesied. a mystery to the people. And then the next verse confirms this understanding of it. Verse three picks up this previous theme of God's judgment on the sins of his people. And it says, therefore, he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth. So now Going back to this idea of the king being humiliated, the loss of the king, the loss of the kingdom, it says this loss of the king was going to continue until the Messiah is born. And of course, this was fulfilled at the birth of Christ. But it says that this Messiah, this shepherd king, who comes from Bethlehem, who is from of old, from everlasting, He would gather the remnant of the people back to the land. He would restore the kingdom. Now we've seen the first part of it fulfilled as Jesus Christ of the lineage of David was born in Bethlehem just as the prophet declared. Jesus declared and demonstrated his deity by many signs and clear words. I mean, think about when After Jesus was doing all these signs and miracles, and telling the people, believe what I tell you, and if not that, believe for the works sake, believe the signs that I'm showing you, right? And as the rulers of the Jews questioned Jesus about who he was, where he came from, his intent. He was saying these things, and I'm sure some of those religious leaders were thinking, wait, wait, wait. Does he actually mean to say what we think he means to say? And so they needed to question him. And remember what Jesus said regarding Abraham and him? I tell you the truth, before Abraham was, I am. And that I am was the name of God. That's how God revealed himself to Abraham and to Moses. And the Jews took up stones to stone him because, as they said, because you being a man, make yourself to be God. The I am. Jesus clearly declared, I am the everlasting God. Before Abraham was, I already existed and continue to exist now. And they're like, you're not even 30 years old yet, and you've seen Abraham? What are you talking about? Because he is God and man. And so that first part, the birth of Messiah, who is the son of David, of the line of David, and is God in the flesh, that has been fulfilled. He is the one born in Bethlehem. God with us, Emmanuel. But then the second part, he will gather the remnant of the people and restore the kingdom. That has not yet been done. Because his first coming was not for the purpose of restoring the kingdom. His first coming was for the purpose of restoring mankind to right relationship with God. to restore us from the curse of sin. His second coming will be to establish the kingdom, to gather the remnant of the people to restore the kingdom and bring about the peace and security that we read about in these earlier portions of Micah's prophecy. The text goes on to say in verse 4, And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord. Notice how it ties in this shepherd picture with being the king. He will shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall dwell secure. For now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. Notice the next phrase. and he shall be their peace. That is the key. He is the one that brings peace. We saw before in Isaiah's prophecy that he's called Prince of Peace. in Luke chapter two, when we have the description of the events at the birth of Christ. And remember, the shepherds were in the hillsides outside of Bethlehem, keeping watch over their sheep by night. And then the angel of the Lord appeared to them and announced that the Messiah was born in Bethlehem, as it was written by the prophets. And then a multitude of the heavenly host appeared and sang praising God, proclaiming, glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will to men, or peace on earth with those with whom he is well pleased. Peace on earth at the birth of the Messiah. He shall be their peace. So when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, we have the proclamation of peace. Did he immediately bring peace on earth? Did he, in the course of his life, death, and resurrection, provide peace on Earth? Yes, absolutely. Peace first between man and God. And that is the first part of the coming of Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, the Shepherd, the Savior, When we receive Jesus the Messiah as our Savior, He gives us peace with God. When He comes again to establish His Kingdom on earth, to fulfill these other parts of the prophecy, His Kingdom will then be characterized by peace. This world will find the peace that it is seeking. Just as He fulfilled the first part of the prophecy, at his birth in Bethlehem so many years ago, he will surely fulfill the second part of the prophecy. We celebrate his first coming every year at Christmas time. As we celebrate his first coming, we look with anticipation toward his second coming. And we say with John at the end of the book of Revelation, even so come. Lord Jesus. I mean, think about even the song that we sang earlier in the service right before the message, A Little Town of Bethlehem. What is the last phrasing, the last thought of that song? Can anyone recall the phrase that closes out the song? You might have to hum it to yourself and bring the words back. To us abide with us So it's a plea for his coming and it's twofold Come and abide within us. That's certainly the first meaning But it's that second one as well. Oh, I'm waiting for the day when he comes and makes all things right Come and dwell with us on this earth, setting everything right, because there's so much darkness, so much hatred, so much pain, that only Christ can set right. When we hear of the wars, and rumors of wars, and the trouble, and the injustice, and everything else, that is because of the curse of sin, and Christ came to ultimately remove the curse of sin. It'll be done when He comes again. That's a light of hope that we still have. We can point people to that there is coming a day. You can know his peace internally now. So that when he comes to establish that true peace later, you'll be able to welcome him with open arms. joy, not as an enemy who is now in fear and trembling. Because when we read the text about Christ coming in great power and great glory with the armies of heaven following him and with a sword coming out of his mouth with which he destroys all of his enemies with just his word, that's a fearful thing to anticipate. But what a joy to know that we can welcome him and be part of his, whether the welcoming party or the armies that join him coming, right? And say, we already know the Messiah. We know this Lord of glory, this King of Kings, because he's become the shepherd of our souls. We received him as he was presented to us. And that is our great challenge. to first know that we have received him as our Prince of Peace, as our Shepherd King, as our Savior, and then proclaim him to others so that they can receive his salvation as well. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for the grace that you give. We thank you for giving the promise of Messiah and fulfilling it intricate detail, that we can look back and we can see how even the clues, the hints, which may have been vague to the people in Isaiah's day and Micah's day became crystal clear as you fulfilled them at the birth of Christ. We thank you for the ability to look and see that that which you have said you have done just as you declared, that that gives us confidence to trust you for the added promises of your presence and your help for us in the midst of the lives that we live as we follow you and serve you, as well as the promises of the future glory at your appearing and your kingdom. Lord, help us to be messengers of your peace that we would live in your peace as well as demonstrate it and call others to enter your peace through faith in Christ. And Father, we pray that, especially at this Christmas season, that we would be able to draw people's focus to the true meaning of this season, that it is all a celebration of your love, your mercy, your faithfulness in sending the Messiah to be our Savior. We ask that you would be glorified in and through us in Jesus name. Amen.