Now muster your troops, O daughter[b] of troops;
siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike the judge of Israel
on the cheek.
2 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.
3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of his brothers shall return
to the people of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and 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.
5 And he shall be their peace.
When the Assyrian comes into our land
and treads in our palaces,
then we will raise against him seven shepherds
and eight princes of men;
6 they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
and the land of Nimrod at its entrances;
and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian
when he comes into our land
and treads within our border.
Have we taken the thought of the Savior’s coming among us too calmly? Have we been shielded from the awful nature of Christmas so that we no longer feel afraid at the coming near of God Almighty?
Our culture, our church culture, sadly has selected from the Christmas story only the pleasant parts forgetting the awesome nature of an event in which the God of the universe, its Creator and Sustainer, draws near to this little planet, and lives among us.
The coming of God is not only a message of joy, but also fearful news for anyone who has a conscience. It is only by facing up to the fearfulness of the event that we can begin to understand the incomparable blessing. God comes into the midst of evil and death, to judge the evil in the world—and in us.
The Messianic vision of Micah makes two important points for us and the first is that this coming Messiah is king. There is no doubt that even among the Lord is regarded more as the Savior than the King. This is in part because his rule has not yet been manifest, at least not in the magnificent way anticipated in the prophets.
His greatness has not yet, as Micah forecasts it will someday, reached the ends of the earth, at least not in the universal and visible way pictured here. But, there should be a greater recognition of the Lord as King among us. True faith in Christ must be an act of submission to him as our ruler, our king.
The Bible says this in many different ways, but it is powerfully put here in the OT prophets, when they see Christ coming to the world and to his people as the King of Kings.
He saves us as a King, he saves us to rule over us and maybe that is why this is not emphasized…we 21st Century Americans don’t want to be ruled…But of course that is just the point…we MUST be ruled and Christ, His Word, His Kingdom, and His Church. His desire rules over His people.
Without this, we get a view of Christianity that is seriously incomplete, if we see Christ as Savior but not as King, our King, now our King, a King to whom we owe the submission of our lives and our service, a King who has our lives and all life in his hands.
This note needs to be sounded again clearly in our day, when Christians have grown accustomed, in part because they see Christ only as their Savior, to thinking of Christ as existing for them and not themselves as existing for Him!
Second, emphasis also falls on the surprising manner by which the Messiah will bring in his kingdom, namely his humility and lowliness. He will come from a tiny village, little among the clans of Judah. No one ever thought of reducing Bethlehem to a mound of rubble overgrown with brush. It was too small, insignificant for that.
But you see it also in the “for me” in v. 2. “Out of you will come for me a ruler…” He will be a servant king, a king doing the will of God, which is a point often emphasized in the NT. “I come to do your will…”
The Son of God had all the glory of God and he humbled himself and became a servant, obedient even to death on the cross. We say those words, but we haven’t really a clue as to what they mean. We do not understand this. But, at least, it may help to see it in contrast to Satan. Satan was nearer to God than any other creature at the creation, but, as we read in Ezekiel 28:17:
“[his] heart became proud, on account of [his] beauty, and [he] corrupted [his] wisdom because of [his] splendor.”[Actually, of the King of Tyre, but under the figure of Satan’s fall. “So, I threw you to the earth…”]
These are the two “minds” that underlie all of human history. Satan’s pride and grasping for himself, and Christ’s gaining universal imperium through humbling himself to live and serve others. Take your choice. Whose mind will you have for your own? And it should alarm you greatly that often, if you were to evaluate it clearly and honestly…often we have much more of the mind of “self” than we do of anything else.
And, then, once more, we have him ruling not in his own strength, but “in the strength of the Lord” (v. 4). He will be a man who gains victory by his trust in God. I want to say that again, because it is the same for you and me and if for Xp then why would we think it different for us?
He will be a man who gains victory by his trust in God. During his ministry he was a man of prayer, a man who lived by faith, and he gained his victory by the help that came to him in prayer. There never was a man who prayed more faithfully or with a greater sense of dependence and need than Jesus of Nazareth.
But, still today, as his reign moves forward to its consummation in history, his kingdom advances by prayer. He ever lives to intercede for us. Waiting and prayer go together…Therefore, Advent and prayer go together. Maybe you are wondering how your Advent celebrations over the years have not been as enriching as you had hoped. Maybe it is all just the same old thing, good thing, but the same…as it has always been.
Maybe the problem is not your celebrations, and it is definitely not the Advent season itself. Maybe the problem is that your Advents of years past…have been prayerless.
Perhaps this year, you bathe the Advent season…the season of waiting and expectation…with heartfelt prayers. Prayers for your own heart…for us…and for all of those good things that you are still waiting for.
This is the Bible’s philosophy of history, and we do not live a single day, not authentically as Christians, that we do not see our lives, our existence, in these terms, this understanding of the world’s present situation — as the canvas on which will someday be painted for all to see the majesty of the King of Kings, this mighty and glorious expectation.
This Advent season we wait, we pray, we rejoice and celebrate! We acknowledge Christ as our king and we yearn for the day when his kingship will be recognized by the entire world when every knee bows and every tongue confesses. As we wait we rejoice in the small things, we rejoice in loving marriages, happy homes, obedient children, faithful Churches, and every opportunity to proclaim to the world its true king.
Prayer: Father, please forgive me for my failure to see the Lord Jesus as King and therefore, the way I indulge my anxieties and for my sometimes lethargic approach to living in the light of His rule. My sins rise up to condemn me, but I praise you for the Savior’s work on behalf of sinners and that because your grace has married us to Your Son, forgiveness and mercy are the banner under which I live. Give me strength to embrace your promises and to live in light of what will be made known in the fullness of time, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us