O Little Town of Bethlehem
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Intro: When people ask you where your from, they are probing into your background trying to find out who you are. For example if you are from these states;
Texas- most would think about cattle, ranching, rodeo and oil rigs
Louisiana- most would think of cajuns, crawfish, swamps
Georgia- Peaches, pecans, farming, Atlanta
If you were born in one of these cities people might associate you with;
Atlanta- crazy traffic, crowded airport, crime
Las Vegas- Sin city, gambling, prostitution
Nashville- country music, Grand Ole Opry, music row
Many people use search tools such as Ancestry DNA or 23andMe to find out more about their heritage and family background. But sometimes where you come from can be a stigma on your life, regardless if people really know you or not. Such is the case in the prophesy of the birthplace of Jesus.
Text; Micah 5:2
2 “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.”
Summary of Passage;
The prophet Micah is a contemporary of Isaiah but a man from the country like the prophet Amos. Micah prophesied the coming judgment of God through Nebuchadnezzar and Judah being carried away captive to Babylon. Zedekiah, the last king of Judah was carried away captive after seeing his sons tortured and then his eyes gouged out [v.1]. But Micah also prophesied of a future ruler of Israel, that would bring lasting peace and prosperity to the people and this ruler would be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah.
1. Bethlehem Ephrathah; 2a
1. Bethlehem Ephrathah; 2a
Little among the thousands of Judah- Bethlehem was a small town about 5 miles south of Jerusalem. It was not a New York or Chicago or Atlanta. It wasn’t even Jerusalem which had the temple. It was so small and insignificant that when they named the major cities of Israel in the Old Testament, Bethlehem didn’t even make the list. Bethlehem was like Finleyson without a Dollar General.
Bethlehem has a history.
Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel, died near Bethlehem when she gave birth to Benjamin, and she was buried nearby (Gen. 35:16–20). In her pain, Rachel named her son Ben-oni, which means “son of my sorrow”; but Jacob renamed the boy, calling him Benjamin, “son of my right hand.” These two names remind us of our Lord’s suffering and glory, the cross and the throne at the Father’s right hand.
Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be concerned (pp. 103–104). Chariot Victor.
Naomi and her husband Elimelech left Bethlehem for Moab and while there, Naomi’s husband and two sons died. When she returned to Bethlehem with Ruth her daughter-in-law, she told them to call her Mara because her life had turned bitter. But God opened the door for Ruth to be married to Boaz, a kinsman redeemer, of which Obed was born who is the father of Jesse the Bethlehemite, the father of David.
So why did God choose this little insignificant out of the way place to bring hope to the world?
One answer is that the Messiah is of the linage of David and David was a Bethlehemite.
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
Matthew 1:5–6a (NKJV)
5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,
6 and Jesse begot David the king.
But the most important reason is that God chooses the small, quiet, out of the way, and does something big that changes the course of history and eternity. Why? Because when God acts this way man cannot boast in the merits or achievements but only in the glorious mercy of God.
Piper, J. (2014). Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014). Desiring God.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
Bethlehem- “house of bread”, bread is the sustenance of life. This ruler would later call himself “the Bread of Life”.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
Ephrathah- [E phra thah] “fruitfulness”, a tree is known by the fruit it bears and Christ is the Vine of Righteousness.
1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
What more of a fitting place is there for Jesus to be born!
2. One to be Ruler; 2b
2. One to be Ruler; 2b
Now we saw last week in the messages that Jesus born of a Virgin, a Child to the nation Israel and a Son given for the world. But I want you to notice what Micah says here; “Yet out of you shall come forth to Me”!
Wait a minute, I thought Christ was given to us? He was, but for the glory of God!
Jesus came to deliver God’s people from all their enemies and rule them in righteousness. Israel was in need of a Savior. Not just one who would deliver them from their physical enemies, but one who would redeem them from all their sin and unrighteousness. Israel needed a Ruler to guide the people in God’s ways, one who could implant in them a new spirit and heart:
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
We need a Savior today to deliver us from all our enemies, starting with our sin and Satan!
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
Micah presented an encouraging message to the people, but they didn’t seem to grasp the significance; for if they had, they would have turned to the LORD in gratitude and repentance instead of going into captivity for 70 years! That same message is for us today and all generations of man.
Turn with me to Matthew 2:1-6, The priests and scribes knew of the prophesy of the Messiah being born in Bethlehem, but none went to seek him out but the wise men from the east!
God’s Ruler came to save us from our sin and in doing so gives glory to God! But we don’t need to let this message fall on deaf ears, we need to seek Him!
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
3. From of Old from Everlasting; 2c
3. From of Old from Everlasting; 2c
From of Old- this refers to the promise of the covenant God made with David.
12 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.
32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.
33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
From Everlasting- days of eternity, Christs’ eternal nature.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
23 I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth, When there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills, I was brought forth;
58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Close;
The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
A senior angel is showing a very young angel around the splendors of the universe. They view the whirling galaxies and blazing suns, then flit across the infinite distances of space until at last they enter one particular galaxy of 500 billion stars.
As the two of them drew near to the star which is called our sun and its circling planets, the senior angel pointed to a small and rather insignificant sphere turning slowly on its axis. It looked as dull as a dirty tennis ball to the little angel, whose mind was filled with the size and glory of what he had previously seen.
“I want you to watch that one particularly,” said the senior angel, pointing with his finger.
“Well, it looks very small and rather dirty to me,” said the little angel. “What’s so special about that one?”
To the little angel, the earth did not seem so impressive. He listened in stunned disbelief as the senior angel told him that this planet, small and insignificant and not overly clean, was the renowned Visited Planet.
“Do you mean that our great and glorious Prince.... went down in Person to this fifth-rate little ball? Why should He do a thing like that?”
The little angel’s face wrinkled in disgust. “Do you mean to tell me,” he said, “that He stooped so low as to become one of those creeping, crawling creatures of that floating ball?”
“I do, and I don’t think He would like you to call them ‘creeping, crawling creatures’ in that tone of voice. For, strange as it may seem to us, He loves them. He went down to visit them to lift them up to become like Him.
The little angel looked blank. Such a thought was almost beyond his comprehension.
Don’t let where you come from define who you are, or place a stigma on your life.
Let the One who came here to earth, this dirty little ball, to the Little Town of Bethlehem, define who you are in Him, “LOVED!”