Micah 5 - Who is Like Our God?

Introduction

Opening Illustration: I read a book recently that struck me so powerfully. In it, the author described the scene at the cross. First, the author described the love of Christ. How his love was so great, so marvelous, that even as he was pinned to a cross, bleeding to death, he looked with love and compassion upon his Church. The author then described Jesus’ mother mary who we are told in the Scriptures was one of the few who had gathered to watch his crucifixion. He described what it must have been like to look up at her son, whom she knew was the true Messiah, and to see him suffering through the agony of crucifixion. The language the author used was that in that moment, she was pierced with love. The love of the Son flowing through her, as she beheld the agony and the cost of our salvation, and she experienced a flow of love through her body the likes of which she had never known.

Personal: Church, that experience of intimacy with Christ, of being pierced by love, of beholding Christ in all of glory as well as in all of his agony, and being led to fierce and vibrant worship, is at the heart of the Christian faith. That is not a mystical faith reserved for an elite few. A Christian worships God and is pierced with love as they gaze upon the wonder of the Gospel.

Context: Today, we continue our sermon series through the Minor Prophets, and we come across the book of Micah. Micah’s name means “Who is like the Lord.” In fact he closes the entire book in verse 7:18 by saying,

Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression…

In many ways that is really what the them of Micah is all about. Micah like the other Minor Prophets condemns both Judah in the South and Israel in the North for their sin, and he warns them of God’s judgment which is coming upon them. And we could rightly preach a number of messages on his warnings against sin, major themes in the Micah. But I chosen today, to focus us in on Micah chapter 5, the chapter that I believe most clearly and powerfully answers the question “Who is like our God.” From this chapter I am going to draw out nine ways in which Micah states that there is nobody like our God. And my aim today is simply to give you an overwhelming glimpse into the glory and the supremacy of Christ your King.

Micah 5:2–9 “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. 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. 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. 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; 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. Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like dew fr…”

Who is like our God?

Meaning & Application

I Who Chooses Such Humble Origins? (2): First, the king would have a humble birth. We read in verse 2

Micah 5:2 “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…”

Rural Village: Bethlehm Ephrathah is a small village on the outskirts of Israel. It was notable in Israel’s history because one other ruler had been born in that same little village, King David. King David, the youngest son, of a family in the tribe of Israel, was born in Bethlehem. The reason he was born there was because his grandmother was Ruth, the Moabite, who moved back to Israel with her widowed mother-in-law and ended up marrying Boaz, which is recorded in the Book of Ruth in the Bible.

Usually Not Born There: But what you have to realize is that Bethlehem is a small rural village of very little significance in the economy of Israel. Leading religious leaders did not go there, because it was off the map. Very few who were born there, got out of there, because in those days, the idea of opportunity and upward mobility, were simply not available.

Humility a Core Virtue: But it was into that rural village, that God promised the Christ would be born. What an odd move by God. He could have been in Jerusalem, at the epicenter of religious activity. He could have been born in Athens, at the epicenter of intellectual activity. He could have been born in a palace. But the Christ, the redeemer, would be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah. What a humble birthplace! God very often chooses the the lowly to shame the highly exalted. In Christ’s own birth, we are reminded that the aim of the Christian life is not to be impressive. The King of Kings came as a servant to serve. Humility is a core virtue of those who follow the King.

Who is like our God?

II Who Rules With Such Authority? (2): Second, we se in verse 2 that he will be a “ruler in Israel.”

Micah 5:2 “…from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel…”

The word ruler means to have dominion, to reign, to excercise authority. When the text says “Israel,” we understand that true Israel is not just a geo-political land in the Eastern coast of the Meditteranean Sea. A true Israelite, is a any believer in the God of the Bible. Any person who has trusted in Jesus Christ as their ruler, is a true Israelite, adopted into the family of God.

Establishes the Law: As a ruler, Christ has true and ultimate authority.

Hebrews 10:12–13 “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.”

His rule is everlasting, and cannot be diminished or threatened in the slightest. As a ruler, he sets the law, and enforces the law. And his law is good. Further, whether we grant it to him or not, Christ rules our lives with perfect authority. This is such good news, because it means that in moments of fear, in moments of hardship, in moments when you don’t know what tomorrow will bring, you are not out of control. Your God, your humble, loving, serving God, has total authority. In that moment you can simply thank Him for his authority.

Follow But Not Submit: As King, Jesus rules over His kingdom. Many today unfortunately, desire to follow Jesus, but not to submit to his authority. Many today believe the lie that one can call themself a Christian without submitting to His Lordship over their life. One cannot be a Christian and deny his rulership over every area.

Who is like our God?

III Who Can Claim Such Ancient Origins? (2):

Third, the King has ancient origins.

Micah 5:2 “… one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

This little phrase is packed with significance. Jesus was born on a certain date in history, about 2,000 years ago. But before, he ever incarnated himself into a human body, the Word of God, the second person of the Trinity existed for all eternity past.

One God in Three Persons: When Jesus prayed over his disciples in the High Priestly Prayer he said,

John 17:5 “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”

The Word of God, existed in perfect harmony and relationship with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit before there ever was time or space or matter. One God, eternally existing three persons.

And so, this King, though born in the flesh, would be from eternity passed.

The God who spoke to Adam and Eve in the garden took on flesh and dwelt among us.

The God who called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans, took on flesh and dwelt among us.

The God redeemed Israel from slavery, who led Moses through the Red Sea, who gave the instructions for the tabernacle in the wilderness, took on flesh and dwelt among us.

The God who raised up Judges to rule Israel in the years of Israel’s anarchy, took on flesh and dwelt among us.

The God who spoke through the prophets, raised up kings, who defeated enemy armies, took on flesh and dwelth among us.

Close: I want you to see the glorious mystery of Christ. He is like no other man. Fully human, born of a woman. Life in the flesh. And yet at the exact same time, fully God from all eternity passed.

Who is like our God?

IV Who Cares for His People With Such Tender Love? (4): Fourth, the King will “stand and shepherd his people.”

Micah 5:4 “And he shall stand and shepherd his flock…”

Stand: In this context, the idea of “standing” signifies vigilance, a readiness to fight on our behalf. Jesus will never be caught off guard by those events in our life that try us. He always stands at the ready, with complete vigilence, ready to work in our circumstances.

Shepherd: And he is a good shepherd. He is in fact, the chief shepherd. The imagery of the shepherd is lost on us as modern folks living in a city. But the shepherd has many roles.

The shepherd leads his flock to green pastures and still waters. Did you know that Church? When life seems like everything is raging around you, like you are caught in the eye of the storm, and you cannot see through to the other side. Christ stands shepherding you. Because you are precious to him, he leads you.

The shepherd defends his flock. When a wolf tries to sneak in and pick off a sheep, the shepherd puts himself between the wolf and the sheep, and defends the sheep’s life. This is why Christians are called to meekness. Because we know that we do not fight our own battles. Our good shepherd defends us even when we don’t know we need defending.

The shepherd goes after the one lost sheep. He leaves the ninety-nine, to rescue the one who is going astray. Oh Christian, if that is you, if you are going astray, Jesus is the good shepherd, who is pursuing you. See himi coming over the hills, coming to rescue you and bring you back into the fold. See his shadow growing longer by the second, even as you flee from him, his shadow is ever growing nearer, as he runs to you, to love you back into the fold.

Who is like our God?

V Who Has Such Overwhelming Strength? (4):

Fifth, who has such overwhelming strength.

Micah 5:4 “And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord…

Let us dwell for just a moment on the strength of the Lord, the strength that is Christs.

God can bring to pass whatsoever he pleases, without any difficult whatsoever. When God spoke, the world was created, in all of its abundant beauty and order.

God need not even exert effort to accomplish the most extraordinary ends. He is not wearied by his work as we are, because he is omnipotent.

Christ himself had the power to defeat death. He raised his own body to life because he has the strength of the Lord.

The sea is his. The mountains are his. The fields and the valleys are his. The deserts and the cliffs are his. The cattle on a thousand hills are his.

He creates ex nihilo, out of nothing. He turned to water to wine. He raised Lazarus from the dead. He healed the blind, the deaf, the lame.

And he delights in giving power to his people.

Psalm 68:35 “Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!”

Delegated Power: Oh the things I have seen God do! God is able to break through the most stubborn hearts, and bring them to saving faith. God is able to bring peace where there is no peace. God is able to revive entire nations with a sweeping faith. And he has the power to navigate any and every trial you will ever go through, because as he shepherds you, he does in the strength of God.

Who is like our God?

VI Who Has Such Overwhelming Majesty? (4):

It is not just the strength of God though. Sixth, he shepherds in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.”

Micah 5:4 “…in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.”

Defining the Word: Majesty is such an interesting word. It signals excellency, exaltation, and beauty. In the Bible the Jordan River is described as having majesty, and it describest he green and shady banks that are clothed wiht willows and tamarisks, where lions made their dwellings. Job describes the waves of the ocean as full of majesty. Many may look at a mountain range and wonder at its majesty. They may see an eagle flying with ease and wonder at its majesty. But its more than simple beauty. Majesty is a unique concoction of beauty, and awe, goodness, and authority.

Difficult to Express: Majesty as it turns out is difficult to express. The word, when used about God, is meant to lead to be utterly overwhelmed at his existence.

Psalm 8:1 “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.”

Our God is so great, so overwhelming, so precious that words like “good” and “glory” will not suffice for true worship. We find ourselves grasping for more language to describe all that we learn about God in the Scriptures: dominion, authority, splendor, strength, goodness, faithfulness, mysterious, wonderful. All of this is captured in that word “majesty.”

Awe & Wonder: And we note that this particular verse does not only signal that Christ is majestic, but that his shepherding of our souls is done in a way that reflect his majesty. The way he leads us, speaks to the soul. The way he cares for us, is greater than a mother or a father caring for their child. His sheperding is majestic.

Who is like our God?

VII Who Is Able to Be Our Peace? (5):

Number seven, the King will be our peace. Verse

Micah 5:5 “And he shall be their peace.

Christ is like none other. He is worthy of our worship and our allegiance and our submission. He is our peace. Notice, the text does not say that he will make peace. He has made peace indeed. But the text is far more direct. “He is our peace.” Ephesians chapter 2 speaking of Christ picks up this language

Ephesians 2:14 “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility”

Illustration: The Peace Child: …

What Peace?: Jesus Christ himself is our peace, because the Scriptures remind us over and over that every one of us was an enemy of God. Every one of us had broken God’s law in our actions and in our hearts and in our relationships. And when it came to our position before a holy God, we had no peace. We were at war with God. But Christ, entered into the human story, and permitted himself to go underneath the wrath of God on our behalf. He himself suffered in our place, thereby satisfying the wrath of God towards guilty sinners like us.

Christ is therefore our peace. Because Christ alone satisfies the justice due our sin. And Christ is our peace, because it is only by placing our faith in Jesus that all the supremacy of Christ that we have discussed today can be made available to us. It is in faith in Christ. Not faith in an idea, or faith in a philosophy. But faith in the man, and his mission on the cross, to rescue his Church from the clutches of death.

Who is Like our God?

VIII Who Can Deliver Us From Every Enemy? (6):

Eighth, we now move to consider his Kingdom, with these final three. Those who are in Christ’s kingdom, will be delivered from every enemy.

Micah 5:5–6 “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; 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.”

Micah looked forward to a day when the Kingdom of God would never be defeated by their enemy again. The Kingdom of is a victorious kingdom. Because Christ is a victorious king, who holds all power, who defends against every enemy, who sovereignly rules and sustains the universe. His Kingdom will never falter, nor fail. It cannot.

Pessimism: Many people have a very pessimistic attitude about their Christian faith. They look out at culture around them, and they atheistic secularism on the rise. They read the reports that less and less people are committed followers of Christ, and more and more people are agnostic at best. And they begin to think that Christianity is a dying regime. That sure there may always be a small remnant that God maintains, but on the hole, we lose. When I look at passages like these, and many others, I don’t know where we get that idea from. Jesus taught us in Matthew 16,

Matthew 16:18 “… on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Nothing will prevail against God.

Not Perfectly Linear: Nowhere in Scripture, do we see that the expansion of the Kingdom of God would be perfectly linear. That we ought to simply expect perfect growth across this globe at all times. From the earliest days, God’s people were persecuted, and experienced all kinds of setbacks. But Christ prevailed. And the Church, which started as a small band of disciples of Jesus in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago began to spread.

Philip preached to Ethiopian Eunuch and the gospel was taken to Africa.

The Apostle Paul planted Churches throughout the Mediterranean, in Greece, in Turkey.

The Gospel flourished throughout Europe and the Mediterranean.

The Gospel worked its way across the ocean and flourished in North America.

Right now the gospel is expanding rapidly across all of South America, through Africa, and throughout Asia in underground Churches facing all kinds of hostility.

Optimism: The Kingdom of God cannot be stopped. I believe that Christians ought to have an unbelievable optimistic vision for the future. Christ will defeat his enemies. In the end, every authority and every will bend the knee to his ultimate reign.

Micah 5:9 “Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off.”

IX Whose Kingdom is So Beautiful? (7):

Number 9, His Kingdom will be beautiful.

Micah 5:7 “Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass…

Here in this verse, Micah uses language that is designed to inspire a sense of beauty. First of all, notice in this verse that it is not just the King who is beautiful. But it is the King’s people. “The remnant of Jacob.” They are the ones who are in the “midst of many peoples.” Dew from the Lord conveys the sense that everywhere you look, the refreshing presence of God is already there.

Salt & Light: Jesus teaches us that we are to be salt and light in the world.

Matthew 5:13 ““You are the salt of the earth…”

Where a Christian goes, they are to go in such a way that they carry with them the beauty and the power of their King.

Their speech is to be fragrant among the nations. Their words worthy of those who have been saved by the blood of Christ, filled with the encouragement and the hope of the Gospel.

Their acts of love are to be so radically sacrficial, that somebody from the nations need only look at their life, and know instinctively the King they follow. The King who gave his life for his people.

Their marriages are to be so full of the glory of the Lord, that households are full of joy and light and life in Christ

Their engagement with culture and politics is to be so filled with wisdom, that the surrounding nations seek their counsel, and know the good law of the King they follow and the Kingdom they reside in.

Experiential: Church, is this your Christianity. You Christian, “the remnant of Jacob,” is your life beautiful to behold, like dew from the Lord. What do your neighbors say about you and think about you when they go home at night. Do they look at the totality of your life, know the Kingdom to which you belong, and say, “I might disagree, but man their life is compelling.” If not, what is hindering you from being that person? Is it some trivial

Conclusion

Church, today I wanted more than anything to exalt Christ with this sermon. In our constant cycle of news, we are tempted to believe the lie that all is lost. We are tempted to take our eyes of off of the wonders of our God, and settle them on the horrors of our sin filled world. And we must fight that temptation at every turn by gazing upon our God? There is no God like our God? We can spend our whole lives searching out his beauty and wonder and goodness, and we will only ever scratch the surface. And by God’s grace we will be granted all eternity to learn more, to exalt more, to worship more, to enjoy more, to see more of the wonder of our God. Church, we must permit the Scriptures to give us a far greater vision of God!

Who is like our God?