Journey to Bethlehem

Unwinnable Fights

Christmas time preaches lofty ideals and high hopes for mankind.

Your average Hallmark Christmas movies tells of the strength and innate goodness of mankind.

It makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

There’s usually some kind of grumpy scrooge character.

Those around him are cheery and joyful, while he’s more of a cranky curmudgeon.

And at some point, he has a change of heart.

The Grinch, his heart grows.

Scrooge, shows kindness to Bob Cratchett and Tiny Tim.

The father makes it home just in time for the Christmas dinner.

There is happiness.

And the goodness of man’s heart is unlocked.

Your average Christmas story says that if we try hard enough there will be peace.

There is the great Christmas Eve Truce of 1914.

World War I was an awful war of trench warfare.

Soldiers had dug trenches on each side of the battlefield, and in between them was what was called “No Man’s Land”.

If you go into No man’s land, you die.

Fighting in the trenches was slow.

It was hard to advance.

It was a stalemate.

As Christmas neared, both sides began reevaluating their strategy.

As the militaries began thinking of new tactics, the fighting slowed even more, and came to a halt.

Until there was an unofficial cease fire.

As Christmas approached, soldiers began singing Christmas songs in their trenches.

Then soldiers hearing familiar tunes being sung across the battlefied, slowly began climbing out of their trenches.

The men who were previously shooting at each other, were now drinking together, singing together, exchanging gifts and passing on news.

Games of football even started in No Man’s Land.

The Christmas Eve Truce of 1914 is a great event.

It inspires songs, stories and legends.

It tells us that these hardened soldiers were still humans.

They had families.

They had emotions.

They had love.

It has all the making of a great Christmas story … if you try hard enough, there will be peace.

As great as the story is … it didn’t stop the war.

Because World War I, the war that was meant to end all wars, would continue for another 4 years.

Over 16 million people would die in that war.

And that war didn’t end all wars.

Because in about 20 years after World War I, another great war would erupt.

It too would bring tales of heroism and stories that make you want to cry.

But despite the actions of the greatest generation, World War II would take about 73 million lives.

The 20th century was a tale of men trying as hard as they can.

And as hard as they tried, it wasn’t a happy story.

Everything that we are told that is necessary for Christmas spirit, was displayed in the 20th century, and yet world peace never came.

Christmas is not about the strength of man.

It’s not about us working our hardest and finally having that happy ending.

Open your Bibles to .

Read .

Micah lived in a tumultuous time.

Israel was receiving the consequences of her sin.

God was bringing enemies into the kingdom.

By the time that Micah writes these words, Israel had split into two nations.

The northern kingdom had been captured by the Assyrians.

And now those same Assyrians were marching south towards Jersualem.

Verse 1 describes danger of the times.

It was a make or break moment.

The Assyrians laid seige against Jerusalem.

Basically, they surrounded the city.

No one was allowed in.

No one was allowed out.

The

The Assyrians would slowly starve Jerusalem to death.

From outside the walls of Jerusalem, the Assyrians mocked Hezekiah who was the king.

The Assyrians tried to remove all hope from those in Jerusalem.

So what do you do?

What do you do when hope is lost?

Who do you turn to?

Verse 1 says, “Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; seige is laid against us.”

If this were a Christmas story, we would say, “If you fight hard enough, you’ll drive off those Assyrians. You’ll save the day. And it’ll end a happy story.”

But sadly, for the city of Jerusalem, and the nation of Israel, it didn’t end happily.

God spared them from the Assyrians.

But eventually the Babylonians came.

The walls of Jerusalem were torn town.

The Temple was emptied and burnt to the ground.

The young babies of Jerusalem, were thrown against rocks and killed.

You see where it says, “with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek”?

That means to humiliate and publicly embarrass the king.

The king is the judge of Israel.

Zedekiah who was king had his sons brought before him.

Then right in front of Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar had Zedekiah’s sons killed.

Then Zedekiah had his eyes gouged out.

The last thing he ever saw was the death of his sons.

Then he was bound in chains, and brought to Babylon where he would die.

Jerusalem put up a fight, but they could not win.

They put their hope in their skill, their ability to fight, their cleverness but it couldn’t save them.

Don’t you see how this is the modern day Christmas story?

The Christmas story has been hijacked by humanism.

It’s been hijacked by men who love to boast in man and the ability of m an.

The moral of every Christmas story is if we all work together we can accomplish anything.

That sounds more like the story of the Tower of Babel, then Christmas.

The Tower of Babel says, “Let’s make a name for ourselves.”

And God tore that movement down.

The sad reality is the strength of men cannot save.

It didn’t stop war in the 20th century.

It didn’t save Jerusalem.

And it won’t save us.

The story of Christmas is that the glory of God is greater than the strength of man.

But that’s not the story at all.

The story is not about the strength of men.

It’s about God.

Today’s text gives us 3 ways that God is glorified.

God is glorified in the lowly.

God is glorified in His promises.

God is glorified in ruling His people.

First, let’s look at how God is glorified in the lowly.

As the enemies of Israel approached Jerusalem, as seige was laid and the city was surrounded, where would their help come from?

And the answer is in verse 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.”

From Bethlehem.

Bethlehem wasn’t a major player, it wasn’t a major city.

It was a one light town.

It was the type of town you drive through.

If it was in the US, presidential candidates would skip it because it’s not worth the votes.

It’s like the city of Rainbow, just south of us.

You never hear of a president making a speech in Rainbow, because it’s only got 1900 people, that won’t win an election.

Bethlehem had a population of only a few hundred people.

It’s so small that it’s not even listed as a city of Judah back when the land was divvied up in Joshua.

It had no major defenses.

It’s a little town, it’s not where you would turn to for help.

We might never consider something small like Bethlehem, but you see, God is glorified in using the lowly.

If you think back in your Old Testament history, the first king of Israel was Saul.

Saul wasn’t a good guy.

God decided to replace Saul with someone else, so He sent Samuel to a little town.

Do you remember that town?

It was Bethlehem.

In Bethlehem, Samuel found Jesse.

Jesse had a number of sons, and one of them would be anointed the next king.

IThe sons are paraded before Samuel.

But it wasn’t the tall and handsome first born son.

It was the youngest son.

It was the youngest son who had the lowly job of being a shepherd.

And when Goliath stood against Israel, who fought for Israel?

It wasn’t Saul who was head and shoulders above everyone.

It was the youngest son of Jesse who went fought.

And this son didn’t bring a sword or an axe.

He brought a sling.

A simple weapon.

This son, would become one of the greatest kings of Israel, David.

God is saying that Israel’s salvation will come from Bethlehem.

Not Jerusalem.

Not a large town.

But Bethlehem.

God uses little towns and youngest sons and slings to magnify his glory.

To show that He is not the least bit dependent on human glory or greatness or human strength or achievement.

God will have His victory, and it will be His victory.

And this becomes a pattern in history.

God chooses and uses the least likely, the weakest, the smallest, so that there can be no doubt in anyone’s mind, God did this.

That’s what Paul is getting at in when he says, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

Look again at verse 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 ...”

God Keeps His own Promises

Out of Bethlehem will come the one who will save Israel.

This is the Christmas story.

A foreign nation won’t come to their aid.

Egypt won’t come to save them.

It won’t be because they suddenly have great courage and spirit that they will be able to drive off their enemies.

How will Israel be saved?

By someone being born in Bethlehem.

Where was Jesus born?

In Bethlehem.

We are looking for the glory of God.

If you are ever looking for reasons to praise God, look for the glory of God.

Find it under every rock.

Search it out.

And when you discover it, say, “Look what God did.”

And we can do that here as well.

The prophecy is that the baby will be born in Bethlehem.

How does this happen?

What does God to so that the holy child, the one who will save, Israel, what does God do so that He is born in Bethlehem.

You want to see the sovereignty of God on display and how He makes His plans work.

Fast forward in your Bibles to .

You’ve heard this passage, Linus says it every Christmas in the Charlie Brown Christmas.

“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.”

Micah tells us that the Messiah, this king needs to come from Bethlehem, how does He get there?

What does God allow to happen so that this prophecy can be fulfilled?

Luke tells us.

All those names, dates and locations are there for a reason.

Luke tells us that Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor at the time, called for a census, and people were to return to their ancestor’s towns.

Joseph and Mary were both descendants of David, so they went to Bethlehem.

Do you see the sovereignty of God here?

God used a pagan Roman emperor as His tool to bring Joseph and Mary into Bethlehem at just the right time, so that when they got there, she would reach her 40th week of pregnancy and give birth to the child in her virgin womb.

God can use Roman emperors for His glory.

Just as He can use Judas’ to betray.

And trials to strengthen you.

This isn’t a story of man’s strength.

This is God demonstrating His power over human lives.

God will be glorified.

Notice why Jesus came?

Why did Jesus come?

We often say He came for you and I.

We remind ourselves that He is the reason for the season.

Sometimes we say He is the best Christmas present there is.

All true.

But there is an even bigger reason why Jesus came.

And if we don’t see this reason, we are not giving God glory.

If we fail to see this reason, we are making Christmas all about us.

Look again at verse 2 and you’ll see this bigger reason for Christ, “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 ...”

Why did Jesus come?

“For me.”

Who’s me?

God

For God.

Someone will come from Bethlehem for God.

He came for God.

That was Jesus’ mission, it was for God, it was to glorify the Father.

All of creation exists to give God glory.

The first question in our family discipleship books, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

It’s not to glorify me.

It’s not to glorify you.

Everything happens for God’s glory.

- “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!”

In addition to saying that Jesus was sent for God, Jesus acknowledges this in what is known as His High Priestly Prayer in .

In , Jesus prays for the Father, and He prayer echoes what is said in .

says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”

Did you catch that?

This is eternal life that what?

That they band together?

That they unify themselves in the strength of man?

This is eternal life that they know … Who?

You.

God

What did Jesus do on earth?

“I glorified you on earth.”

That’s why Jesus came.

God desires glory.

Jesus came to glorify the Father.

Let’s put this in perspective of Christmas.

Jesus came to save us, absolutely, but His number one priority was to glorify the Father.

And that’s the story of His life.

From the cradle to the cross, all He does is for the glory of the Father.

The great burden and objective of Jesus Christ is always the exaltation of God.

And if you desire to be mature, if you desire to have a heart like Christ, if you think that you are becoming more Christlike … then you must have the same goal in mind as Christ, and what’s that … the glory of God.

Whatever you encounter in life, its for the glory of God.

We are quick to make this about ourselves.

We are quick to think that others have shorted us.

We are quick to make ourselves the victim.

We are quick to blame others.

When we should be quick to glorify God.

To seek His glory.

To say, look what God is doing.

In every condition, and in every phase of life, we look for the glory of God.

That is maturity.

This child that comes from Bethlehem will be a ruler.

He has authority.

It’s amazing how many people recognize the child born in Bethlehem, Jesus Christ, but they don’t acknowledge His rule.

If He isn’t your king, then you don’t know Him.

If He doesn’t have authority over your life … then you don’t know Him.

He came to rule.

And the final description of this child born in Bethlehem in verse 2 is that His “coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

Jesus was not just some child who was born in Bethlehem.

He wasn’t a child prodigy.

He didn’t start in Bethlehem.

It says that He is of old from ancient of days.

When Jesus came as a child, that was the start of His mission to save, but He’s much older.

When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, in the book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar looked into the fire and when he should have saw 3 people, he saw a fourth man that looked like the son of God.

Jesus was in the fire with them.

When Samson’s parents learned of their special son, it was Jesus who visited them.

When Joshua was given a plan to cross the Jordan and take Jericho, it was Jesus who gave him those plans.

When Jacob wrestled with God, it was Jesus who touched his hip.

When Abraham learned that his wife would have a child in an old age, it was Jesus who told him that and heard Sarah laughing in her tent.

When something came from nothing, it was Jesus who formed it at the dawn of creation.

And before the foundation of the world, before page 1 of your Bibles, there was God the Father, God the Son, and the God Spirit in perfect harmony with each other.

The child that would be born in Bethlehem, the one we celebrate at Christmas time, is Jesus the Christ.

He is the one who saves.

He is the one who we hope in.

The Christmas story is only truly understood when you give Him glory.

When you stop trying to make it the Hallmark Christmas story of the goodness of man, and when you make it all about Him and His glory, then you understand Christmas.

The second thing that Micah teaches us about God is is glorified in His promises.

In verse 3, we fast forward.

You’ll find that this who text, verses 1-5, we have 4 phases of time.

There are 4 periods of time described.

Verse 1 there was an attack upon Jerusalem.

It was being attacked in Micah’s day.

That’s phase 1.

Verse 2 we have a prophecy of a child who will be born in Bethlehem.

This is phase 2.

Verse 3 is where we stand now.

This is current events.

This is phase 3.

Jesus came, and Jesus was rejected.

He first went to the Jews, and they rejected Him.

And He was put on a Cross.

And what we have today is a Gentile religion.

The Gospel is going into the nations.

To different ethnicities and languages.

It’s spreading across the globe.

God is grafting into His nation Gentiles, nonJews.

That’s why in verse 3 it says, “Therefore he shall give up them until the time”.

And God did exactly that.

He has given up Israel.

They don’t really exist as a nation.

There hasn’t been a true nation of Israel since 586 bc.

In 586bc, the Temple was torn down by the Babylonians, and Israel was no more.

After the Babylonians were the Medes and Persians, who gave the Jews more freedom, but they were not autonomous, they were not self-ruled.

After them the Greeks, followed by the Romans.

The Temple was rebuilt, but it never contained the glory of God within it.

God’s presence was never in that Temple.

And even today, there may be a nation on the map that says Israel, but it’s not the Israel of old.

It’s a secular nation.

There’s no Temple.

And they don’t acknowledge Christ.

But God keeps His promises.

Because what you see is only for a time.

“Therefore he shall give them up until the time -”

That means this giving up, this period of them not being a nation, it’s limited.

“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.”

What does that mean?

This is a millennial prophecy.

There will come a day when there will be a true Israel.

A true nation on the globe that belongs to God and recognizes Christ as king.

There will come a day when Jews will turn to Christ and recognize Him as the Messiah.

Again we are looking for the sovereignty of God; we are looking to give Him glory.

If there is going to come a day when Jews will turn to Christ, then there needs to be a remnant, Jews need to continue.

Have you ever wondered how Jews have continued to survive as a people all these years.

I can’t think of any other people who have been attacked and hated as much as the Jews throughout the ages, and yet they continue.

You won’t find anyone who is a Philistine, or a Canaanite today.

You won’t find anyone who is a Mideonite or an Edomite.

They don’t exist.

But you will find Israelites, you will find people who are Jewish.

My mother in law is 100% Jewish.

We did one of those DNA tests.

She’s 100% Jewish.

How is that?

You don’t meet anyone who’s 100% anything.

But she’s 100% Jewish.

How is that?

By the grace of God.

He has a plan, and that plan is that one day, His elect Jews will return.

They will repent.

They will trust.

That’s what He says in verse 3, “then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.”

You see God predestines, He elects, He chooses, and a beautiful thing to think about is how He is patient towards those that He has elected.

Before the world was ever made, He chose a people that would be His.

These were people He knew before they were ever alive.

And it is this people that Jesus died for.

Do you ever stop to think about how in your own life God protected you and provided for you so that you would one day be converted?

He is patient towards His elect.

He is faithful to His own promises.

Dear Christians, there was a period of time when you were not a believer.

You were an enemy of God, deserving Hell.

But He protected you, and was patient until that planned moment, when He would give you faith.

We seek to give God glory, and we do that by recognizing His promises and His faithfulness to them.

And finally God is glorified in ruling His people.

Look at verse 4 into verse 5, “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.”

I told you there were 4 periods of time in this passage.

Verse 1 was an attack upon Jerusalem in the 700 bc’ ish.

Verse 2 was a prophecy about the birth of Christ, let’s just say 0 AD.

Verse 3 describes the current period of time that we live in now.

Christ came, He was rejected, and Israel was given up on until a future time.

Israel lies in waiting for their day when God will grant them faith.

Then there is verse 4, and this is future.

A 4th period of time in relation to Christ, and this is when He will return.

Verse 4 and part of 5 give us 3 descriptions of what Christ’s return will be like.

First, tt says that He shall stand and shepherd His flock.

It says that He shall stand and shepherd His flock.

This are words that describe His rule.

Look at the description of His rule.

It’s unlike anything we have ever seen.

Human governments come and go.

They divide.

They bring friction.

They fall over.

Rome was a magnificent Empire.

It boasted in its rule of law.

We are experiencing that right now within our own nation, as our president was impeached last week.

We talk about the corruption of politics.

Yet there is no Roman Empire today.

it collapsed.

Not many trust a politician.

In a moment the old USSR, the Soviet Union, it just fell over.

And one day the US will be no more.

But the government that Christ will bring is one of the strength and majesty of God.

It will stand and it will stand forever.

These are attributes of God.

This means God will rule directly over His people.

It’s in the strength and majesty of the Lord.

Second His kingdom will be global.

It will be a government under the power of God.

“And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus won’t be king in a small region of the world, but to the ends of the earth.

It will be a government under the majesty of the name of God.

This means

says, “And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.”

And thirdly, His kingdom will be one of peace.

At Christmas time people love the idea of peace.

We think that if we all try hard enough, there’ll finally be peace on earth.

Sadly, as hard as we try, it’s never happened.

That Christmas Eve Truce of 1914, as spectacular as it was, lasted hours.

They exchanged gifts, sang songs, played football.

But that camaraderie didn’t stop the bloodshed.

The men returned to their trenches and it was Hell on earth again.

But in Christ there is peace.

There will be peace among the nations, because He will rule over them.

And there is peace with God.

Notice at the beginning of verse 5 it says, “And He shall be their peace.”

Your sin was warfare against God.

It was treason.

Because He laid down His

It was rebellion.

It deserved the full justice of God.

But instead of you receiving it, where did that anger towards sin go?

It went to Jesus instead.

He took your punishment … so you would have peace with God.

“And he shall be their peace.”

He is our peace.

It’s not that He negotiated peace or made a deal with God.

He

He is our peace, because He stood in your place condemned.

The only way to have peace with God is if you have Christ.

Folks, this excites me and I hope it excites you.

Christ is glorified in real ways.

He is glorified in humility, because He historically came into this world.

He is glorified in HIs promises.

If He says He will do something He does it.

He is glorified in ruling.

Christianity is not a mind game, it’s real.

It’s not a philosophy, or a way of thinking, it’s just as real as the ground that you stand on.

The Hallmark Christmas movie is wrong.

The Christmas spirit isn’t found within you.

It’s found in Christ.