O Little Town of Bethlehem

Micah 5:2 ESV

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.

This evening, with great anticipation, we look forward to the day to come tomorrow. For several of us, tomorrow will mean a time of worship at church, a time for fellowship with family and friends, probably some good food, presents, and most of all, the recognition of what Christmas is really all about.

But tonight, as we gather together on Christmas Eve, what we experience is the anticipation of all of this. The anticipation of time with family, good food, presents, and recognition of that day.

But it isn’t just we today who anticipate Christmas morning, in times past, in fact, all the way from the time that man first fell into sin back in the Garden of Eden, what humanity had longed for was the first Christmas morning.

They knew that they had woefully fallen into sin, that because they had fallen into sin, the world had been damaged both physically and spiritually and that humanity had been severely damaged both physically and spiritually as well.

You see, the first man who ever lived in this world, Adam, he was made to be the federal head of all humanity, almost like a senator of sorts. A senator is a man or woman who is elected by the people of the state that he or she lives in so that he or she may represent the people of the state who elected him or her.

Well, God elected to have Adam be the representative of every human being who would come after him, the original human being. And how Adam represented humanity in the Garden of Eden would ultimately determine the fate of humanity.

This meant that if Adam lived in perfect obedience to God in paradise, then humanity too would forever live in full communion with God in paradise.

But we all know that that did not happen. For when Adam chose to sin in the Garden of Eden, he eternally fell, now entering into a state of total depravity.

At this point, Adam could notobey God in even the slightest sense, as he had become fully tarnished by sin. And because he had been fully tarnished by sin, he then was eternally ostracized from God, unless God decided to graciously save Adam apart from anything that Adam could do.

And because Adam is the federal head, or general representative of all natural humanity, then all of humanity in its natural sense is also eternally ostracized from God in total depravity… unless like Adam, God decides to graciously and lovingly save an elect number of people from this world through nothing that they do, and through everything that He does for them on their behalf.

But in order for this to be, there must be another federal head Who will come on behalf of this elect people of God and represent them through His own perfect obedience.

This federal head is what humanity longed for from the moment that man first fell into sin, as even Adam and Eve longingly looked for this federal head to redeem them from the eternal state of enmity to God that they had found themselves in.

Back in Genesis 3:15, we read God’s pronouncement of judgment in this regard, when we read of His words to the serpent who deceived Adam and Eve when He said:

Genesis 3:15 ESV

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

And so, there it was! God promised that eventually the woman’s offspring, a Man would come, and this Man would be the federal head for His elect people as He, through the bruising of His heel, that is, through His crucifixion, would bruise the head of the serpent, which means that for His people, He would definitively defeat sin and death forever.

Thus, those who truly believed on the Lord and placed their trust in His grace alone, these, with faith and anticipation looked forward to the coming of their federal head, the Anointed One, the Christ, for they knew that when the Christ came, full salvation would come with Him, their federal head.

Thus, in the midst of this great sense of anticipation, we find the people of Judah in our reading for this evening on the verge of collapse as the viscous army of the mighty Assyrian Empire lurks just outside the gates of Jerusalem, waiting for the perfect opportunity to conquer, overwhelm, and devastate the holy city.

And while it seems as though all hope is lost, it comes to pass that God delivers Judah on this particular occasion. But there will come a time later on when God will hand the people of Judah over to Babylon. At that point, it will seem as though all hope is lost. But even then, God will powerfully bring His scattered people back home to the Promised Land.

But even then, they will find themselves still in captivity, with sin as their captor. Thus, they will find that while they need a Man to deliver them from this eternal captivity to sin, that there is still no man who can possibly do such a thing.

At recognizing this, we come to our reading. While the strength of humanity had proven to be futile at saving humanity from their sin, there is one Man Who would come and be the effective federal head for God’s elect.

God says in the first part of our reading, the first half of verse 2:

Micah 5:2a ESV

2a 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,

The strength of man had proven futile as he could not save himself from his sin. Adam, his federal head had failed miserably, thus there needed to be a new federal head, One Who would be just as much man as Adam but without the sin of Adam.

And God says that this federal head, this Man would come from the tiny village of Bethlehem. Bethlehem, a town even smaller than our own Bethany, having only around 300 people in it.

But from this humble little town would come the Ruler of Israel, the federal head of God’s elect.

Now, like I said though, this Man would have to be just as much man as Adam, but without the sin of Adam. But for anyone who is just as much man as Adam, has Adam for their federal head, and thus, inherits the sin that comes from Adam, their federal head.

So, how can this Man be the sinless federal head of God’s elect if He is just as much man as Adam? The very last part of our reading answers that question for us when concerning this Man, God says it is He:

Micah 5:2b ESV

2b whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

Now, what this signifies is that this Man is indeed fully man. But He isn’t just fully man, He is from old, from ancient days, meaning He is eternal, a.k.a. He is also God… fully man, fully God.

Thus, when Jesus came into this world over 2,000 years ago, it was not an event where a mere man came to this world, rather, it was at that time, that the Godman had come into this world. And Jesus, the Godman was He Who fully realized the salvation of His elect people.

Thus, with anticipation, the people of God longingly looked for the coming of the Godman, and on that first Christmas morning, there was nothing more to anticipate, for He had fully arrived!

And as we consider this, may we today in anticipation of Christmas morning, like the people of God from old, anticipate the second coming of the Godman. May we look to the heavens, longing for His glorious appearing, knowing that our hopes will one day be realized.

Amen?