Our Great Shepherd
Christmas Series 2025 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: He hath laid siege against us: They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Therefore will he give them up, Until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: Then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; And they shall abide: For now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
And this man shall be the peace, When the Assyrian shall come into our land: And when he shall tread in our palaces, Then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, And eight principal men. And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, And the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: Thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, When he cometh into our land, And when he treadeth within our borders.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people As a dew from the Lord, As the showers upon the grass, That tarrieth not for man, Nor waiteth for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people As a lion among the beasts of the forest, As a young lion among the flocks of sheep: Who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, And none can deliver.
Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, And all thine enemies shall be cut off. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, That I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, And I will destroy thy chariots:
And I will cut off the cities of thy land, And throw down all thy strong holds: And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; And thou shalt have no more soothsayers:
Thy graven images also will I cut off, And thy standing images out of the midst of thee; And thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: So will I destroy thy cities.
And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, Such as they have not heard.
Introduction
Introduction
In our passage this morning, we see the prophecy of the birthplace of Jesus. Beyond this location, we see the outworking of the victorious leadership of Jesus. We can be sure that the heart of God is that the people of the world will receive the peace that is found only in Jesus.
The book of Micah is not a book that we commonly study. We often go to it only for the second verse of our chapter this morning. Quoted in Matthew’s account of the arrival of the wise men, this verse points to the location of Jesus’ birth. However, God has a message for us today in this chapter beyond just the simple location of the first Christmas. There is peace in the person of Jesus today.
Micah was a prophet during the same time period as Isaiah. He would have known the trouble associated with the besieging of Jerusalem by Sennacherib. In addition, Micah was a prophet called by God to address specifically the sin of the people in turning away from Him. The context in Micah for our passage is God rebuking the people for their idol worship. Particularly, the leaders, princes and prophets are singled out for their unfaithfulness to God.
We see in chapter 3 the result of prophets that were not preaching the truth or leading the people to obey. God promises that there will now be silence from Him.
Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; And it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; And the sun shall go down over the prophets, And the day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: Yea, they shall all cover their lips; For there is no answer of God.
Chapter 4 brings us into the immediate context of our passage to show us what will happen in the future as part of the Divine plan of God to bring redemption to mankind.
But in the last days it shall come to pass, That the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, And it shall be exalted above the hills; And people shall flow unto it.
There maybe condemnation for sin now but one day, there will be the exaltation of righteousness in Jerusalem. We will see in our passage that part of this promise is the salvation and peace that comes from the Messiah and Shepherd. The New Testament tells us that this is fulfilled in Jesus.
Declaration
Declaration
Jesus is the prophesied Messiah and Shepherd. We need the comfort, leading and protection of the Shepherd in our daily lives. Today, we can rejoice that the victory has been won and forever we will live in the peace of Jesus. There are three actions here by the work of the Great Shepherd.
1. The Great Shepherd Leads
1. The Great Shepherd Leads
Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: He hath laid siege against us: They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up, Until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: Then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; And they shall abide: For now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. And this man shall be the peace, When the Assyrian shall come into our land: And when he shall tread in our palaces, Then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, And eight principal men. And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, And the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: Thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, When he cometh into our land, And when he treadeth within our borders.
Chapter 5 begins with a verse about the danger posed by the enemy to the capital city. Jerusalem is surrounded by troops and the leader of the city will be injured by those soldiers. This may have been the seige of the city during Hezekiah’s reign.
Verse 2 contrasts with this hopelessness in verse 1. While the judge of the people is helpless to stop the enemy, there is coming a greater who will be victorious. In verse 2, we see that the Great Shepherd leads. In a small town not listed in the book of Joshua as part of Judah, a ruler would be born to lead Israel.
The Great Shepherd is none other than someone who has been sent by God. He is described in verse 2 as One “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” This can only mean that God is the ruler Himself. The phrasing of verse 2 clearly teaches us that this is a Divine King. He has been alive forever. John the apostle tells us,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The Ruler would have to be someone who has lived forever. This is the meaning of the Hebrew word translated “everlasting.” Only God Himself could match that description. Isaiah tells us about this ruler,
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel.
The Great Shepherd leads. Micah continues to point to the coming kingdom that is promised throughout the Old Testament. There will be a period of Divine rule on earth before the end of time. During this time, the Messiah will fulfill the promises given to Israel and His people.
Micah is writing to people in distress and searching for help. The nature of prophecy is that it brings us toward action in the present to prepare for what is coming. Peter warns believers,
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
We see a list of the actions of this Shepherd here on behalf of His people:
He will give them up in verse 3. The Shepherd prepares for the return of those scattered abroad for the kingdom. There are people throughout the world that will receive the blessings of salvation in the Millennium.
He shall stand and feed in verse 4. The Shepherd feeds His people because He is the leader. One of the primary functions of the ancient governments was to provide bread. Joseph is a perfect example of this function. Even today, food is provided by the government to those in need. Another prophet expands this prophecy,
And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
He shall be great throughout the world in verse 4. The knowledge of who the Shepherd is and what He has done is to all people. All can come to praise God and receive of Him.
Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
He shall be the peace in verse 5. The Shepherd will remove the possibility of war and will replace it with blessing and prosperity. This is the epitome of the work of the Shepherd who brings His people back to the righteous worship of the Garden of Eden. Isaiah names this Shepherd,
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: And the government shall be upon his shoulder: And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Peace is what we long for in this life. We have sin in our hearts. We have a nature that is fallen and cannot be bettered by human action. Peace is what the Shepherd offers to those are His. One writer points out,
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament Strong’s Hebrew #8010
šālôm, and its related words šālēm, šelem and their derivatives, are among the most important theological words in the OT.
The Shepherd wins the victory in verses 6-7. Commentators take the reference to Assyria to be both specific to that ancient nation and representative of spiritual enemies. The Shepherd has won the victory over Satan, death and the grave. Paul tells us that Jesus, the Great Shepherd, has brought peace.
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
The Great Shepherd leads. Here we see that He leads to victory in Himself. The peace of Jesus is not just temporary but eternal. It is the peace of knowing that we have nothing to fear. There is no battle we must face defeat. Instead, the Great Shepherd Jesus has won the battle already.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The Great Shepherd Restores
2. The Great Shepherd Restores
And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people As a dew from the Lord, As the showers upon the grass, That tarrieth not for man, Nor waiteth for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people As a lion among the beasts of the forest, As a young lion among the flocks of sheep: Who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, And none can deliver. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, And all thine enemies shall be cut off.
Micah continues this passage with a promise for the Jewish people. The Great Shepherd Restores. There are those today who believe the truth of the Gospel. They are Jewish but they have seen that Jesus is the coming Messiah. One day, they will be regathered in the land of their fathers.
God promises here that these believers will be as water that is refreshing and restoring each day. The dew waters the plants when there is no rain. These believing Jews will be refreshing. In chapter 2, he writes,
I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, As the flock in the midst of their fold: They shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.
God also promises that those Jewish believers will be as lions throughout the world. In the ancient world, these lions would have been a familiar sight in Palestine. However, over the centuries, they have become extinct there. A lion is a familiar symbol of power and strength even today from the crests of royal houses throughout the world.
During this time, lions were associated with Assyria. One of the kings of Assyria, Assurnasirpal II was the best known ruler to raise lions. We have already seen that Assyria represents the enemies of righteousness as well as the named nation. Here, God is promising that there will be a strengthening of His people to serve Him and win victories.
The Great Shepherd restores. This is the nature of Jesus to take something that was once worthless and make it into something that once again is useful. He has done that with me. He has done that with each person who has put their faith in Him for salvation. The principle is that Great Shepherd cares and acts in mercy to His people.
3. The Great Shepherd Purifies
3. The Great Shepherd Purifies
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, That I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, And I will destroy thy chariots: And I will cut off the cities of thy land, And throw down all thy strong holds: And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; And thou shalt have no more soothsayers: Thy graven images also will I cut off, And thy standing images out of the midst of thee; And thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: So will I destroy thy cities. And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, Such as they have not heard.
The final act of the Great Shepherd must move us to daily reflection. The Great Shepherd Purifies. In verse 10, God is speaking about that future kingdom and what will be different from today. This is the change that Jesus as the Peace will bring about in this sinful world.
In verse 10-11, God promises to remove those things that allow someone to carry out war. Sometimes God has commanded His people to go into battle against certain enemies, especially in the Old Testament. There will come a day that war will be over. Jesus gives peace both inside and peace outside. The Psalmist tells us,
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
Beyond the lack of war, the peace of Jesus will be because His kingdom is visible in the world. Salvation is the requirement of entrance into the kingdom. This is only available through putting your faith in Jesus Christ alone for the removal of your sins.
And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, And the horse from Jerusalem, And the battle bow shall be cut off: And he shall speak peace unto the heathen: And his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, And from the river even to the ends of the earth.
In verses 12-14, God promises to remove the means that man has devised to find peace spiritually. Idols, occult practices, and self-reliance will never satisfy the needs of our hearts. Only faith in Jesus alone will allow one to find the inner peace of salvation.
The removal of anything that is based on the striving of man is pointing to the necessary reliance on God alone. So must it be in our lives. Every day, we must choose to rely on God alone. His peace is not earned by our actions. His peace is bestowed by the grace shown on the cross of Calvary and won through the empty tomb for every man.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Do you have something else that you are relying on for peace? Is it your works or understanding? Is it your pride or satisfaction? Only by removing all of these extra things from our lives will we grasp the true peace that is ours through the saving work of Jesus.
How many times have there been reformations in the lives of believers?
We can think of the period of the 1500s. Men like Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli led a movement to purify the church and restore it back toward the Scripture. Each of these men have beliefs that we would disagree with, yet their heart was to bring back the church to the Bible.
We can think of the Puritans and their emphasis on external discipline and internal devotion. They had a desire to bring the Church of England into conformity to the teachings of Scripture. Whether right or wrong in their beliefs, their desire was to remove that which kept them from a right relationship with God.
We must have the same pattern daily in our lives. Cut out that which is pulling us away from peace. Keep off the works of darkness that will keep us from enjoying our position in Christ. Each of us must choose to follow Scripture alone.
Micah ends in verse 15 showing that God will bring the just reward of wickedness on those who have rejected Him. The Great Shepherd purifies. There will be those who will reject the Gospel and they will receive eternal punishment.
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
The Great Shepherd purifies. We are faced each day with a choice to find peace in Him or in what we can do. Working for ourselves will never get us to heaven. Serving Him is the proper response of one who has received salvation.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Jesus is the prophesied Messiah and Shepherd. We need the comfort, leading and protection of the Shepherd in our daily lives. Today, we can rejoice that the victory has been won and forever we will live in the peace of Jesus.
We have seen this year that the victory has been won. There are daily battles that we face. There is a struggle against our flesh. We have the danger of those around us who will pull us away from our relationship to God. But the war has been won.
Do you have peace in your life? Peace is found in knowing that our victory has been won by the death and resurrection of Jesus. We can pass over and possess the blessings that we have in salvation! Do you have peace in your life? Today, we ought to end the year with peace both inside and outside.
Unbeliever, peace is yours through the sacrifice of Jesus for your sin. Every person who has ever lived has sinned. Jesus paid that debt that we owe on the cross. If you will believe in Him, you will find peace. Believe today!
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
We can have peace in the Great Shepherd Jesus Christ. Believer, will you look to Him this morning? He is there for you. One day, you will be with Him in the kingdom and for eternity you will have outward peace. Today, remove those things from your life that put the reliance on yourself. Peace is in Jesus. Let Him be your Shepherd today!
