What would you join me this evening in Matthew chapter two, Matthew chapter two verses five and six, we're actually going to read the fulfillment passage before we read the passage that will be fulfilled. And so we'll go Matthew chapter two. And then after that, we'll turn back to Micah chapter five, the Matthew chapter two, This is as the wise men come and they're wondering where the Christ, where the Messiah would be born. You notice in Matthew chapter two, verse five, the chief priests and the scribes recognize this. They say to him, this is after Herod actually has asked on their behalf. They say to Herod, in Bethlehem of Judea, that's where Christ was to be born, for thus it is written by the prophet, 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 then if you would turn back with me to the book of Micah, Micah chapter five, and we're gonna look at that passage which was first given. Micah chapter five, and we'll read, starting in verse two, through the beginning of verse five. But you, Bethlehem Ephrata, 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 of old, from everlasting. Therefore he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth 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, 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. Perhaps like me, you are tired of hearing the promises of our rulers. promising one thing and not performing. But I hope that we will never tire of hearing of the promised ruler. Though we may hear, maybe get tired of hearing the promises of our rulers, let us never tire of hearing of our promised ruler, Jesus. This passage in Micah chapter 5 sets forth the coming of Jesus And it has a direct fulfillment in Matthew 2, verses 5 and 6. Matthew 2, verses 5 and 6, you'll see both a quotation and something of a summary of the prophecy of Micah. In Matthew 5, you see the statement of where Messiah would be born. That Messiah would be a ruler. You see as well that the Messiah would shepherd or feed the flock. In Micah chapter five, you see more of the fullness of that prophecy referring to Jesus. In this series about the promised one, we have looked first of all at the promised victor, and it was promised that the coming one would be victorious over Satan. We looked at the promised prophet, that when Christ came, he would be a prophet who would speak the words of God, like Moses, but greater than Moses. This morning we looked at the promise that Jesus would be Emmanuel. He is the promised Emmanuel, God with us. And tonight I want us to think about Jesus as the promised ruler. I wanna think of just a few things regarding Jesus, our promised ruler, starting with his humble birth. Notice his humble birth with me tonight. Verse two of Micah five, 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 of old, from everlasting. You notice this Bethlehem, little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall he come forth to me who will be ruler in Judah. almost about exactly two years ago, and it seems like much longer than that. We had the kind of Christmas presentation here at Ennerdale, Christmas 2019, and some of you that were there remember that I actually preached like six mini messages in one night. One of the things that I was mentioning in one of those mini messages, I would preach between different passages of scripture and songs being read, I mentioned about the birth of Prince George. How on July 22, 2013, after months of anticipation, Prince George was born to Prince William and Kate. As his father was the elder son of the Prince of Wales, this meant that he was third in succession for the throne of England. Prince George was immediately hailed as the future king. How the Commonwealth responded. There were 21 gun salutes that announced his birth in United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Bermuda. Church bells were rung around the world. Landmarks in Commonwealth nations were illuminated in blue. Commemorative coins were issued by the Royal Mint, the Royal Canadian Mint, the Royal Australian Mint. When Prince George was baptized, and of course they call it baptism, as Baptists we call it something else, but he was sprinkled in keeping with the traditions of the Church of England, the water that he was sprinkled with, the water he was baptized, was actually brought in from the Jordan River. So quite the hoopla made over the birth of Prince George. How different, of course, the birth of our Savior. And there's a difference that's pointed out even in this passage regarding the place of this birth. You, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah. Some of you that are Bible readers might be a little bit surprised at Bethlehem being described as little. Maybe even this idea of it not being that significant because some of you might remember that Bethlehem was the birthplace of David, birthplace, it was the place where David would be buried, it was a place of some prominence at times in the Old Testament. And you might wonder, why is it sort of described as a little town at this point? Well, it had been a place of prominence in the time of David, in the immediate aftermath. But over time, it had declined into comparative obscurity. And so it was when Christ would be born. It would be little among the thousands of Judah. It wouldn't be a prominent town, a prominent place. It would be really a place of comparative obscurity. But how humble that a great ruler would be born in such a place. Of course, we don't choose where we're going to be born, but God chose where Christ would be born. And he chose this little town. Little among the thousands of Judah. And again, yes, we as individuals don't choose where we're gonna be born, but our parents choose where we're gonna be born. And that's why when you have people who are prominent, they usually stay close to home in their significant surroundings and are born there. Jesus comes into this earth born in Bethlehem. Little among the thousands of Judah. Again, we think of the birth of Prince George. They didn't try to find one of the smallest towns in the UK in which he would be born. But Jesus was born. What condescension that Jesus who occupied the courts of heaven would be born and he would be born in a little town. Not only that, as we know, born and laid in a manger. because there was no room for him in the inn. Not only is there humility that a great ruler would be born in this little and seemingly insignificant place, there is great humility and that in that this is not only a ruler in terms of earthly rulers, this is the great God, God in the flesh, Jesus, the son of God, the second person of the Trinity. who is being born in Bethlehem. There's no other way that we can understand who this individual is as we read verse two. Because it says, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel. Yes, we note that. Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Now, we might think of our own selves and the fact that we have both a material and an immaterial part. We might talk about our never-dying soul, that we have a soul that will live on, and that is true. But the massive difference between us and God is that our soul will continue and there will be a resurrection one day, but we are not from everlasting to everlasting. Only God is from everlasting to everlasting. And yet we, the one who was born in Bethlehem here is described as the one whose goings forth, whose activity has been from of old, from everlasting. Reminds us of Psalm 90. I got my Psalm 90 and Psalm 46 mixed up this morning, but Psalm 90 Prayer of Moses, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, wherever thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. All of this to remind us, brothers and sisters, that it is Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, who humbles himself to be born in Bethlehem. We have this morning considered this somewhat the marvel of the incarnation, the marvel and the mystery, the great mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. This is a subject that we can meditate on for a lifetime and never exhaust its full truth and wonder. Jesus, who was to be the ruler in Israel. Jesus, and we'll talk a little bit more about that reign in a moment. Jesus is to be the ruler in Israel. Jesus, who is the God, the Son of God, the one who is described in Isaiah chapter nine, verse six, as the mighty God, is born in Bethlehem. What condescension. I think we would do well to meditate upon the condescension and the incarnation, the humility of our Lord. We would do well to do so because it reminds us of his love, that he would condescend from such great heights to such great depths in love for us. I think it should also inform how we live our lives. Paul would tell the Philippians, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. And goes on to describe Jesus in his humbling himself to becoming obedient to the point where he becomes obedient even to the death of the cross. We have a tendency to think so highly of ourselves that we don't feel that we need to stoop. We need to have the exalted place. We need to be recognized. We are the ones that need to have the prominence. Yet our Savior would humble himself to be born in Bethlehem. So the promised ruler would have a humble birth, but he would also have a mighty reign, a mighty reign. Verse three has been something of a mystery for many students of the Bible who have read this. Therefore he shall give them up. He seems to refer to Christ the Messiah. He'll give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth. Then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel. And there are different views that are set forth about this. Is this talking about how God's people will be shepherded but left in a certain state until Mary brings forth Jesus? Is this talking about a state when the children, when Israel as a nation would bring forth the Messiah? For my part, I think that this most likely speaks of a gap between the incarnation and the full experience of the reign of Christ which is to come. In other words, Jesus reigns truly in the hearts of his people now. He reigns because he is our Lord, he is our Savior. He reigns also in a universal sense because he is Lord of Glory, but there is a particular Mediatorial, millennial sense, I believe, in which this will be fully seen. And then even more fully seen in glory when Christ rules for eternity. All of this to say that I think this time is possibly, probably, referring to a gap between Christ's first coming and what will be his second coming. Nonetheless, the truth now that is unfolded in this passage is something that resonates both now and then. Verse four says, he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord is God and they shall abide. For now he shall be great to the ends of the earth and this one shall be peace. Jesus is the ruler. He will be the ruler, I believe, in a millennial sense. He will be ruler in an infinite and eternal sense. He is the one who would be ruler in Israel. We see something of the exaltation of this ruler. We notice that his strength is referred to, verse four, as the strength of the Lord. We notice the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. We notice as well that it says that he shall be great to the ends of the earth. Though humble in birth, the Messiah Jesus would be mighty in majesty. Jesus is in himself both mighty and majestic. This is true of who Jesus is. What our verse before us speaks of is not a condition that Jesus will one day take upon himself, but rather the full recognition by others that Jesus is mighty and majestic. That, if we are wise to what is happening in our society, is not the general perspective of the world around us. The world around us does not look at Jesus as mighty and majestic. It has no such categories in their minds for him. Especially around Christmas. He's a cute baby in a manger and that's about it. But Jesus is the exalted ruler. The one who is mighty and majestic. And this passage reminds us that one day that will be revealed. I say this as an encouragement to all of us because though Jesus is despised right now, and though those who may follow him may seem to be despised right now, there is a day coming, the day of which is spoken of both in Isaiah and in Philippians chapter two, when every knee will bow and every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God, the father. He is, the exalted ruler. And we see as well the extent of his mighty reign. So he is exalted as the one who reigns. He is a one who has a reign that is and will be over all. Notice what it says here. The majesty of the name of the Lord is God. They shall abide. Now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. You look throughout history, more than one great tyrant has arisen after another trying to take over the world. Trying to conquer everything. And we look back on this now with our eyes of 2021 and we sometimes fail to recognize that that was the sad condition of every culture, of every different ethnicity for thousands of years. You look at it, and it was all about conquering, taking over territory, becoming the man, becoming the one who took over everything. I am interested, fascinated by the study of the kingdoms of Africa. The kingdoms of Africa, there were mighty kingdoms in Africa. There was a king in Africa who decided that he was going to take a pilgrimage to Mecca, and this is how rich he was. As he traveled, he was giving out gold. Many of the places that he went through, he gave out so much gold that it caused the economy to crash because it devalued just how much that was worth in that society. Incredible ruler of an incredible kingdom. We think of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire had their prophets that foretold that they were going to rule all of the area, the world they would rule. But you kind of got an idea of what they would think of as their rule of the world. Their world was fixated on that area around the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Sea, that sea between the areas of Africa and Europe. The Romans called that Mare Nostrum, our sea. And their prophets foretold of a day when the Roman Empire would conquer all and would reign for a thousand years. Of course it didn't. Many have risen up, but there is none that was great to the ends of the earth. There's only one ruler that really truly will and does have such a reign. And that is our Savior Jesus. His reign is and will be over all. A reign that is in every place. Not only is that reign in every place, it's a reign that is over every power. We see that when it says that not only it is to the ends of the earth, but it says that this one shall be peace. It takes a great and powerful ruler to bring about peace and lasting peace. This one, Jesus, shall be peace. We think about the peace that Jesus gives. Jesus gives personal peace to us as individuals. But in this bigger sense here, Jesus gives political peace. His reign will be mighty. It will be over the entire earth. How do we respond to this? Well, Psalm 2 describes exactly The kind of opposition that Jesus would face in his own lifetime. The kind of opposition that would continue even after he had given his life on the cross. Opposition that is described as heathens raging and peoples imagining a vain thing. The kings of the earth gathering themselves together against God and against his anointed, saying we don't want him to rule over us. The Psalm, though, does not picture a God who looks at this rebellion helplessly and wonders what can be done. The scripture tells us that he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. And as H.P. Charles, Jr. says, when God laughs, it ain't funny. He is not overcome by the rebellion of sinful man. Even if it is the rebellion of rulers and kings, And the Psalm concludes by saying, kiss the son, pay homage to the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled, but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. Jesus is and will be the ruler. Have you bowed the knee to him? Rebellion will not profit. No matter how powerful and intensive you may be in your rebellion, he triumphs. And so we see this promised ruler's humble birth, his mighty reign. And lastly, and I'll not keep you long because I see that half of the congregation is falling asleep. So out of mercy to you, his perfect care, his perfect care. He shall, verse four, stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord. This ruler is one who is not only a mighty king who rules over the entire earth, the one who can bring and keep peace, he is a caring shepherd. You don't very often think of great leaders of great kingdoms as shepherds. Especially in the sense that is used in scriptures. You see this sense of the shepherd in scriptures. It's always one who cares for the sheep. Who does what's best for the sheep. Who loves the sheep. It's contrasted with the hireling. The hireling is just in it for the money. Doesn't care for the sheep. But the shepherd really does care about his sheep. So this mighty ruler, whose kingdom is over all, is also a caring shepherd. So this passage describes not only his humble birth and his mighty reign, but his perfect care. His perfect care is a sovereign care. That is, he as the Lord, the one who possesses the strength of the Lord, is the one who cares for them. Perhaps we remember in our own lifetimes times when our parents tried to give us the care that we needed, but didn't always get it right. I, as a parent, know that I have failed many times in trying to care as I ought to care for my children. I actually have a book at home which is Kind of summary for a lot of us dads. The title of the book is Daddy Tried. But our Savior, as the Sovereign One, who has the very strength of the Lord, gives a perfect care. There is no force beyond His power. There is no circumstance beyond his wisdom. He gives perfect care. Now that's not to say, as I pointed out this morning, that we always understand his ways. Because sometimes the care that he gives does not line up in our mind with the care that we wish that we would have. But is that not the way it is with parents and children in general? How many are the things that I have to try to take away from Joel because of what he might do with them to break them or hurt himself. How often do young children reach for things that could be harmful to them and may not understand when their parent takes it away? God's, our Savior Jesus' care is a sovereign care. No circumstance above his strength. or no situation or power above his strength, no circumstance beyond his wisdom. But not only is it a sovereign care, it's a sustaining care. And notice that it says, he will feed his flock, shepherd his flock, verse four, in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall abide. Our Savior, Our shepherd Jesus is a shepherd who cares for us with his sovereign power, but he also cares for us with his sustaining care. The Savior keeps his sheep. The shepherd doesn't lose any of his sheep. He's the one that goes and searches for that lost and wayward sheep. He's the one who says, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Nor can anybody pluck them from my father's hand, he says. And not only does he sustain us in the sense that he keeps us, it is his ongoing grace that sustains us for every trial. Romans 8. He that spared not his own son, God the Father, but gave him up for us all, how shall he not also with him, with Christ, freely give us all things? But I'll move on. Maybe it's warm in here. His perfect care is a sovereign care, it's a sustaining care, but it's also a sacrificial care. As Jesus describes his own work as a shepherd, he will speak of his sacrifice. In John 10, he would say, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. He lays down his life for the sheep. And this is exactly what Jesus would do. So even as we read this and we think about this powerful, sovereign, sustaining care of the shepherd, we remember that this care comes to us because he has laid down his life for us. He died for us. He died for the sheep. Every provision that is ours in Christ flows to us from Calvary. So, brothers and sisters, this Christmas, as I mentioned this morning, don't think only of the cradle, but think also of the cross. Jesus has come to earth. In coming to earth, He is the promised ruler. humble birth, mighty reign, and perfect care. But it's a care that comes at great cost. The cost of the life of the shepherd himself. The cost of laying down his life, his shed blood for us. And so, brothers and sisters, this Christmas consider this ruler who is also your shepherd. Let the cradle point you to the cross, Be assured of His care for you. That care is real and it is never ending. Let God remind you of His love this Christmas. Amen.