The Ruler of Israel

0:16Thank you for listening to the Sermon Podcast for Crossroads Bible Church in Rocdale, Texas. Crossroads Bible Church is a Reformed Confessional Baptist Church that meets every Lord's Day at 10 a.m. for Bible study and 11 a.m. for corporate worship. For more information about our church and for directions, you can find us online at www.crbcrockdale.org. Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This morning, I will make one exception for this morning. As I am preaching, if you feel inclined to say amen, which I hope you do every now and again when the Lord speaks to us through his word, this morning instead, if you would just cough instead of saying amen. That way it'll just get all your coughs out, and I'll know what you mean. Just joking. For God so loved the world that he sent to us his son. It is that love that we will speak about that will in fact permeate all of our text this morning, even though I may not say the word love very many times. We understand that it is through that love that God sends forth his son. And we're going to talk a lot about him sending forth his son this morning in the incarnation. So turn to Micah to do that. Turn to Micah chapter 5. Micah chapter 5. We're going to start, we'll read verse 2, but as an introduction, I want to talk a little bit about verse 1 and kind of set up where we are in Micah. Chapter 5, verse 2. I'm going to read verse 1 to you very quickly. 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. This initial prophecy in Micah chapter 5 is what by all theological and commentators would say that this is what happens in 2 Kings verse 25. If you want to mark that down, or chapter 25. Mark that down for later reading. 2 Kings chapter 25. I'm not going to turn back, but Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar lays siege to Judah in 2 Kings chapter 25 and dethrones Zedekiah. Zedekiah's sons are killed, his eyes are gouged out, and he is completely humiliated. This becomes what is known as the Babylon captivity or the Babylonian captivity. There is no more kings over Judah. Zedekiah, as dethroned by Nebuchadnezzar, is the final king under that Davidic line. There are no more kings of Judah after Zedekiah. The Babylonians' rule, and then the Persians, and then the Greeks, and then the Romans, up until Christ's coming. So where we begin then in Micah chapter 5 is under the darkness of a prophecy that came true for them. And it foretold then of the end of the kings of Judah and the vacancy of the throne of David for literally hundreds of years. This prepares us then, and this one verse of Micah 5 prepares us for a long period of silence under the throne of David. The kingship of Israel will not be occupied, but we long for it to be occupied again. So this is that time of waiting. So we're talking a lot about Christ this morning, obviously. But specifically him coming forth as this ruler of Israel. And his purpose in that and his salvation in that as this long-awaited king, ruler of Israel. And in that we're talking about his humble beginnings. This ruler of Israel who has humble beginnings and his eternal kingship. So that's where we're going, that's where we're at, that's what's going on up into this prophecy. So please stand with me as we read Micah 5, starting in verse 2, and I will read through verse 5. But you, O Bethlehem Ephratha, 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 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. He shall be their peace. This is the word of the Lord. Thank you, Lord, for your word. By your word, and for Christ's sake, it is in his name that upright. But you, O Bethlehem Ephraim, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah. We know Bethlehem. It is known for really only a few things in the Bible and in ancient days. It's a very small and humble place. It's politically and economically insignificant, Bethlehem. Regionally, it's a part of Judah, but it had become so small and so insignificant that it wasn't part of the clans of Judah. These are places like Hebron, Jerusalem, and Bersheba. Judah, Bethlehem was too small to even be named or numbered in those clans. The Hebrew indicates here in Micah that it is a place too insignificant to even be counted. It's so very insignificant of a town, politically and socially and economically speaking. It was known as a shepherding town, Bethlehem. It was the birthplace of another very famous king, David, who was himself, as we know, a humble shepherd. And that's given to us in 1 Samuel chapter 17. And we'll get there in Bible study. But that's if you want to write that down, 1 Samuel 17. Bethlehem is also, not coincidentally, but providentially, the birthplace of Ruth's father-in-law. This is Elimelech, who died, and this is where Bethlehem is where Ruth and Naomi ended up settling back after all of their difficulties. Because we know that Ruth fathered Obed, Obed, Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David. So this is how we get from Ruth to David, and David was born in Bethlehem. But otherwise, Bethlehem is very insignificant. And why is the insignificance of Bethlehem so important? Why did God choose Bethlehem to bring forth David and ultimately to bring forth Christ? The insignificance of Christ's beginning is perhaps paradoxically concerned with the unaltered glory and purpose of God. The Messiah born in Jerusalem, for instance, would perhaps overshadow the glory of God due to the stature of that place of birth. Oh, wow, you were born in Jerusalem. Must have been nice there. Surely he got the best Jewish education being born in Jerusalem. Surely he went to that mega synagogue. Surely he was a part of that big city culture. God does it this way, though. In humility, in worldly insignificance, so that he alone receives the glory for having done the thing. Our sin thinks what good can come from such humility, from such weakness, from such lack of status. Our sin causes us to continually stumble over how God uses the insignificant and the weak and the humble in every respect. Because it is there alone where He receives glory. First Corinthians 1. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seeks wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly the Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men, for consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful, not many were noble in birth. 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 of the world, even the things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. So the humility then of Bethlehem is about the glory of God. But it is also about the purpose of God. God chose Bethlehem so that when he worked through Bethlehem, his own would have no choice but to confess, surely this can be from nothing but God. He foreshadows this or establishes his decree by continually choosing in the Old Testament the younger over the older. We went through this, we went through Genesis so many times. And so often the characters in the Old Testament, if you remember in Genesis, they were confused when God did this. And Scripture never omits their confusion, which is obviously by design so that we know that God was doing something that was not normal for them. But he's the younger. Why is he going to get the blessing? It's not right. That's strange. Paul answers this for us, Romans 9. But also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not born yet and had done nothing either good or bad, nor that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told the older shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob, I have love, but Esau I hated. And so often we attempt to insert our own logic into the text and say, Yeah, I don't know about that. I'm not sure I agree that God does it that way. Or in our confusion, we say, Why is the younger getting the blessing? And by human reasoning, we try to import understanding into God's word. Missing the obvious reality that God constantly and consistently does what is opposite at times to our reason and our logic. Why? So that he gets the glory, so that it is his purpose that stands. He does this so that we have nothing left but to declare what God says to Isaiah. He says to Isaiah, I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times, things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose. I have spoken and I will bring it to pass. I have purposed, and I will do it, says the Lord. To the one who still doubts that. To the one who is still yet to surrender themselves to the God of all purpose. Open your ears this morning to the rest of what he says to Isaiah, the word of the Lord. Listen to me, you stubborn of heart. You who are far from righteousness. I bring near my righteous. It is not far off, and my salvation will not delay. I will put salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. Stubbornness is all too common, though, isn't it? In fact, it is all too common. We don't have to turn there. I probably won't, but Matthew 2. If you remember, you know the story, Matthew 2, this is right after Christ is born. Something happens miraculously on that day, that evening. This star guides, the star appears in the sky, which guides the shepherds there. And it is a miraculous enough event that people are talking about it. And word gets back to Herod, we know. And in Matthew 2, we are told that Herod summons his chief priests, scribes, and he asks, Where is this king of the Jews to be born? Interestingly, those chief priests and those scribes quote for him Matt Amicah 5, verse 2. They quote, O Bethlehem, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me, the one who is to be the ruler of Israel. Why didn't they go though? These chief priests and scribes who are called forth to Herod know that something happened. They quote Micah chapter 5, verse 2. They tell Herod exactly where he is, but they didn't go. They didn't go. Thirty years later, when Christ shows up on the scene doing all of these signs and wonders, and many say, this is the Christ, this is the Messiah, he is the one. In John 7, it records that the people responded again, referencing Micah 5, but saying, No, we know this guy, he's from Galilee. And the Messiah is supposed to come from Bethlehem. Christ is born. A star signal his arrival. As I've said, word gets around, and yet they are silent, and they are still allowing Herod, allowing Herod to go and try and kill him. Thirty years later, a 30-year-old man shows up and starts doing all these amazing things, and they say, No, he's actually from Galilee. We've got to kill this guy. Or everyone else will start following him, and our authority will be deposed. Do you see the blindness? The stubbornness. The hard-heartedness. The failure to trust and submit to God's word revealed in Scripture. This is quite astounding, isn't it? How utterly blind and foolish they were. But without eyes to see. We would all be that blind. Without the gift of faith, the trust in God's word, to see it revealed to us, to pierce our hearts, we too would all be as lost as those lost men. This is why the condition of salvation is faith alone. God's glory and purpose demand faith. The humility of Bethlehem demands faith. And the reformers so excellently articulated this faith for us by saying that it is more than simply the gnosis or the knowledge of faith. And it is more than simply the ascent that said knowledge is true, because even the demons know that. They know the knowledge and they believe it to be true. The devil himself believes in Christ. Those chief priests and those scribes that I talked about, they knew the truth. They quoted it. They believed it to be true, didn't they? But what's the difference? True faith includes a surrender and a trust to God. A surrender and an obedience to his words that transcends reasonableness, that moves outside of logic, to the heart that says it's all you, Lord. It's your purpose, it's your glory, it's your salvation, it's your way. Take me, Lord, use me, I'm yours. That's the faith that the humility of Bethlehem speaks of. That is the saving faith in Christ, our Messiah. As we continue then through the text, the second half of verse 2 says, From you shall come forth for me. For me, it says. John 8, verse 28. I do nothing on my own authority. These are the words of Christ, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. We should be careful then when our language, or with our language, we say that Christ was born for you. That is true. In a sense that you benefit from his unincarnation greatly, because you do. And certainly it was for your salvation and in love that the Father sent the Son. But we must not fail to see that Christ's work was according to the everlasting purpose and will of the Father. And it was for his glory. The Christ became flesh for the Father, according to His will, for the glory of the triune God, and by His grace alone we benefit from that. The text also says in the second half of verse 2 whose coming forth is from old. From ancient days. This is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. Old Testament's in Hebrew. When they translated into Greek around 250 BC, 250 BC, they began translating it starting with the five books, the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. But that is called the Septuagint. Micah in the Septuagint in Greek has two very important words that are translated from the Hebrew in that section, the very last half of verse 2. And that is first coming forth from of old. From of old. We know this word in Greek, arche. In arche in hologos. In the beginning was the word. In the beginning was the word. Those who translated the Hebrew into Greek would have understood what Micah was saying there. What Micah was intending to communicate there was that this one who is to be ruler, this one who is coming forth from God, this king of Israel, would be one who was with God from the beginning. What is the beginning then? This is clarified in the very last of verse 2. From ancient days. And again, in Greek, this is the word aeon or eon, where we get our English word aeon, E-O-N, from, which references timelessness. An infinite amount of time. And if you have the NASB or the KJV, it says from everlasting. A literal translation then of that text would be, whose coming forth is from the beginning. From the days of eternity, or from the days of everlasting, or from everlasting. Micah knows the one who is to come, the one who is to fill this throne of David, to be the God-appointed ruler of Israel, would himself be from the beginning, from everlasting. The everlasting Father would send forth from himself, for himself, an everlasting eternal king and ruler of Israel. Sounds like two of the three persons of the Godhead, right? The Old Testament is Trinitarian. And he is to be born a ruler, born in time. This is not a ruler who is only a ruler in a spiritual sense or to be only a spiritual manifestation of God. He's not just to appear as human and to appear to be in our time, but to actually be a human in our time. With a birth, with flesh. But he is to be born from a woman who will labor, the text says, to bring forth God in flesh. He will be a shepherd king, it says. Hundreds of years they waited for Micah to be fulfilled, this prophecy. Who came not as a conqueror just to win everything for them immediately, but as a shepherd who would lovingly lead them home and guide them. So often we just want to get things over with, don't we? We've been talking about it so much in 1 Samuel. In our impatience, we just say, just come on with it already. But God's delay is about patient preparation. But will you sit with the delay? Will you enjoy those times of silent preparation? Will you submit to being transformed by your shepherd king? Will you wait for your king? Will you be patient and listen to the voice of God? This is the question. Finally, then, we get through the rest of our text. He is the source of peace. This ruler of Israel is the source of peace. I don't recommend you watching the show. It's been a long time since I've seen it, but there's this movie called Miss Congeniality. If you know this movie, Miss Congeniality. Not recommending it at all. There's a scene where there is a Miss America pageant. And all of the contestants are asked the same question. What is? And I wrote it down, what is the most one most important thing our society needs? What is the one thing most importantly that our society needs? And humorously, all of the contestants answer the same thing. What is it if you've seen it? World peace. This is what they all say. And miscongeniality tries to offer something practically and ends up just having to say world peace to get the applause. Certainly we all want world peace, don't we? The tragedy is that such peace is attainable. If the world would only seek it in the source of peace, 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. What Micah is telling us is that this ruler who comes forth from everlasting will be our peace. Christ is our peace. No government will give you peace. No policy, no politician, no program, no lifestyle, no amount of money, no job, no house, no car, no spouse, no habit. Nothing will bring peace on earth. But the everlasting King who sits on the everlasting throne. No Christ, no peace. Perhaps what those beauty pageant contestants are getting at is the longing of every heart. That we know that something isn't right here. The world as we know it is broken and it needs something. Society is broken and we need something. World peace, that's what we need, right? That's prescribing a goal without a means. World peace, it's a noble goal. But that's not what we need. What we need is the Prince of Peace. To have world peace, we need the world to be governed by the source of peace. Peace himself. It seems as though we're so far away from that, though, doesn't it? As I stand here today, we can't even get along within political parties, much less talk about peace on earth. That's craziness. Peace on earth? I'll say though, has not every other prophecy of God's word come true? Did not Christ come forth from this unlikely little town of Bethlehem? And so many said, No, surely this is not the one. Humble man from Bethlehem? Did he not fulfill every plan and every purpose and every prophecy? Did he not satisfy the wrath of God and defeat death and secure everlasting life for his people, just as everything had been foretold? Have you trusted in his word to this point in your life, even when he asked you to be patient? Even when he is preparing you. Has it seemed like all has been lost? Has it seemed like all is silent? Only to have his goodness spring forth again in you, to renew hope in you, to renew your strength? As it has so wisely been said so often the night seems darkest just before the dawn. Again today, that the dawn will break, that we will all dwell secure, as Micah prophesies, when the greatness and the glory of the incarnate Son will stretch to the ends of the earth, when as far as the east is from the west, our sins will be scattered, and his peace will be all that is known. Then I saw a great white throne, and him who is seated on it, from his presence the earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also, he said, Write this down. These words are trustworthy and true, and he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of water of life without payment. To the one who conquers will have his heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. That is world peace. And it is coming. As surely as the Lord was born in a manger, born of the Virgin of Bethlehem, is his name and his glory, there will be peace on earth. Bow then to the true and only ruler of Israel. Bow to the lion of Judah, the only heir to the throne of David. The mighty God, the great shepherd. The beginning and to the end. The holy God three and one. And may all the earth bow to the source of hope, the source of peace, the source of joy, and the source of love, King Jesus, our Messiah. We read it again, but I'll read it again last time. Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you this day in the city of David, who is Christ the Lord, and this will be a sign for you, you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with an angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praying God and saying, Glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. We give thanks and praise to God, and to his glory this morning we can confidently say, Merry Christmas. Come, Lord Jesus, and dwell with us again. Amen. Lord, we thank you for the hope, for the peace, for the joy and the love that you have shown to us through your Son during this Advent season, Lord, and through the whole of our lives, Lord, we thank you for this prophecy of Micah. For you have so clearly shown to us who your ruler would be. We thank you that by your spirit you have given us eyes to see it, Lord. You have broken down our stubbornness, Lord, and our blindness, Lord, and we see Christ. A humble servant, as a suffering servant, or the true ruler of Israel. We bow to him this morning, Lord. We trust in you, and we trust in your son. Would we believe? Would you help our unbelief? All these things in your precious name. Amen.