Micah 5 (2)
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Micah 5 The Birth of a Ruler...
Micah 5 The Birth of a Ruler...
Welcome
Prayer
Announcements
Recap events.....
Verse 1....
1 Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops;
siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike the judge of Israel
on the cheek.
Micah is still addressing Jerusalem.
And the call for them to muster their troops is a call to prepare for battle, but with the phrase O daughter of troops, really the idea is they can prepare, but it will be ineffective, they have no way to defend.
Siege is laid against us, the threat is coming.. and there is some speculation there, some think this is Sennacherib, but there is more evidence that this is the last siege, which would be Nebuchadnezzer.
The striking of Israel on the cheek is an effect that points to blinding the king. This might speak to when Zedekiah was blinded and forced into captivity.
Verse 2 Micah 5:2
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.
But you, there is a conjunction here, in contrast to rulers of the past, a different one is coming. Not a weak or helpless ruler is coming...
Bethlehem Ephrathah means literally Bethlehem who is fruitful, and this small city, the most unlikely will be the home for which a great ruler would come.
So the Lord is announcing his birth place, the house of David will be it.
Some would have thought Jerusalem would have been the place, t is their great captial city, but there is no comparsion with this little town.
Who is this ruler, the one whose origions are from old, from ancient times. Well the only one who has been is the Great ‘I AM’ so he will be the one who will minister.
Verse 3 Micah 5:3
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.
Because of this, because God has designed to punish his people before delivering them and since this deliver will arise out of Bethlehem
But in going away in punishment, God will make sure that the rest of their faithful brothers, a righteous remnant will return.
And we know as their 70 years of captivity were complete the Lord their God allowed people to return, to be set free from the land of babylone.
And this happen, most notibly we could think of Nehemiah.
Verse 4 Micah 5:4
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.
The messianic Son of David, He will be a shepherd to his people. This will what he will do for those after the captivity.
He will begin to rule over them, he will stand, being not only a shepherd, one who cares for and tends the sheep, but he will rule over those sheep for their good.
His reign will endure forever, and he will feed, lead and protect his children.
Isaiah 40:11 “11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”
The Lord himself will enable the Shepherd-King to do his work in the strength of the Lord. He will carry out his work in majesty.
He will provide a secure place for His people an his rule will be universal… it will be over all the earth.
Luke 1:32–33 “32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to 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.””
Now lets look at verses 5-6 Micah 5:5-6
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.
Man, I like that first line… And he shall be their peace. Wow.
The world is looking for peace today my friends, but Jesus is where peace exists and rests. He is the prince of peace.
The Assyrian here represents the enemies of God’s people in any age or time. During these days God will raise up leaders who will faithful shepherd the people, who will lead them.
And during these days, even when the enemy opposes them, God will deliver them. Even if the enemy is within the borders of the land, God will not be detured.
Verse 7 Micah 5:7
7 Then the remnant of Jacob shall be
in the midst of many peoples
like dew from the Lord,
like showers on the grass,
which delay not for a man
nor wait for the children of man.
The remnant of Jacob are those who are the survivors of persecution and will be made up for thosefrom all the tribes of Israel.
They will survive in the midst of many nations or peoples. And look at how their survival is describes, they are likened to dew from the Lord each morning that blesses the land with water.
The Lord will make his people like that, a blessing for all the people. it cannot be done away with, it is there each day
Verse 8 Micah 5:8
8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations,
in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,
which, when it goes through, treads down
and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.
The children of God will be present among the nations, and just as they brought life and peace they can also bring bring judgment and death.
Just as a lion mauls sheep, or different animals, so Israel will be one who overcomes her foes.
How will this be… The Lord God, remember he is a covenant God will empower her and help her. Her victory is inevitable, no one can withstand her.
Verse9 Micah 5:9
9 Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries,
and all your enemies shall be cut off.
And here Micah addresses the remnant directly. The lifting up of a person, or a hand is symbolic in power.
While the remnant is in captivity right now, they will be lifted up and out of that state and enable her to outlast all the persecutions of her enemies… She will survive, this is the Lord’s plan for her.
Now verse 10 Micah 5:10-11
10 And in that day, declares the Lord,
I will cut off your horses from among you
and will destroy your chariots;
11 and I will cut off the cities of your land
and throw down all your strongholds;
Now Micah is sharing what the Lord is saying directly to His people. In that day declares the Lord, which signifies that He is about to act, while God has promised to take care of the enemies of His people.
He also promises to judge and destroy His own people because they trusted in themselves, in their chariots and horses. But the Lord will wipe that out with the reason, that they will see and know it is the Lord who gives the victory....and they will learn to trust him.
Zechariah 9:10 “10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
The Lord will destroy not only these things, but your fortiifeid cities and strongholds.
When I think of this, I am reminded of Gideon, God allowed 300 to go with him, so they would know it is the Lord who wins the victory
Now lets look at verses 12-14 they all come together to provide a single thought
12 and I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;
13 and I will cut off your carved images
and your pillars from among you,
and you shall bow down no more
to the work of your hands;
14 and I will root out your Asherah images from among you
and destroy your cities.
All those objects of pagan worship will be purged from God’s people. His people will no longer be unfaithful by committing spiritual adultery with false God, idols, cult objects and the occult.
Remember Judges 3:7 “7 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.”
2 Kings 23:6 “6 And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people.”
The law of God has clearly forbid these evil practices and the Lord will destroy their witchcraft, and their objects of worship.
Those cities that were the centers of the idolatrous practices, the Lord willl destroy and wipe them out.
Verse 15 Micah 5:15
15 And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance
on the nations that did not obey.
God will take vengence on the disobedient Gentile nations, there were those like Cananna that influnced the sin that occured in Isreal, and the Lord promises to deal with them.
The anger and wrath of the Lord is equivalent to righteous indignation.
They had heard and they could have obeyed the Lord but they choose not too.
A time is coming when the the nations will live under the rule of the King of Judah, the Lord Jesus and they will obey
He will be the omnipitent Sovereign over all
