One Day, Messiah Will Come
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Micah 5: 1-15
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.
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 from the Lord,
like showers on the grass,
which delay not for a man
nor wait for the children of man.
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.
Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries,
and all your enemies shall be cut off.
And in that day, declares the Lord,
I will cut off your horses from among you
and will destroy your chariots;
and I will cut off the cities of your land
and throw down all your strongholds;
and I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;
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;
and I will root out your Asherah images from among you
and destroy your cities.
And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance
on the nations that did not obey.
When I was in college the world seemingly stopped when a young girl in Texas was playing outside, then slipped into a hole – an old well. She was lodged in the well and the world watched as cameras from every news agency set up live coverage of what would be one of the most incredible rescues of our day. When baby Jessica McClure was brought out the world cheered.
Then, in 2010 our eyes were glued to a mine in Chile as miners were trapped in a cave in. Trapped beneath two-thousand feet of solid rock, these thirty-three men were desperate. They ate two spoons of tuna, a sip of mile, and a morsel of peaches every other day to survive. They were trapped for two months. Then on October 13, 2010 the men began to emerge. So many stories – a great-grandfather, a forty-four-year-old planning a wedding, a nineteen-year-old man. All trapped...then rescued.
More recently in June 2018 twelve boys on the junior football/soccer team “Wild Boars” and their assistant coach left practice to explore a cave. Then entered the cave then tragedy struck The caverns were flooded. British divers familiar with the caverns and skilled in swimming through this cavern came. They found the boys and their coach – four kilometers from the entrance. The rescue required that the divers sedate the boys and one-by-one, through a six-hour dive within the caverns, with scuba gear attached to the boys, pull them out.
In each of these stories and many more, those to be rescued had to come to the realization – harder for adults than for children – that they could do nothing in their own power, in their own strength, to get out of their circumstances. They HAD to trust someone else to save them.
And that is the very truth for each person in this room today. That is true for each person who has ever lived. That is true for the people of God in Micah’s day.
Micah was one of numerous prophets in this era, showing the goodness and grace of God. The God who loves. The God who saves. The God who warns. The God who judges. The God who is holy.
The first three chapters cover this. Despite the warnings to those needing rescued, they continued in their sin.
Micah encouraged the righteous remnant in both nations to continue in their faithfulness and to hold onto hope because God has a future plan of rescue and restoration.
One day Messiah will come.
One day Messiah will reign on the earth.
The King Arrives
There are small towns throughout the world that are known:
Plains, GA (Jimmy Carter)
Woodstock, NY (hippies)
Roswell, NM (aliens)
Dyersburg, IO (Field of Dreams)
Salem, MA (witches)
Hershey, PA (chocolate)
Tupelo, MS (Elvis)
Canton, OH (Pro Football)
Mt. Airy, NC (Andy Griffith)
Punxsutawney, PA (ground hog)
Sturgis, SD (motorcycle rally)
Small dots on maps.
What they have in common is that most would never think much of these places if not for that birthplace or event that occurred there.
Micah’s prophecy highlighted another small, insignificant town known as the birthplace of a long-dead king of Israel. Yet, the birth of that king was but a foreshadow of what was to come.
The Messiah would come and he:
1. must be a descendant of David (read Matthew 1) 2. must be born in Bethlehem (David’s birthplace)
The King Reigns
The reigning king will cure and cleanse his people, his nation Israel at the end of the age. “In that day” – when Christ is reigning on the earth – all promises are fulfilled.
Israel is cleansed from its empty sense of security and in trusting their own military power (vv. 10-11) and pride in being the chosen people. The empty hope will fad and their self-reliance will be cured.
God’s Word will be trusted again, as it had in the past (v. 12.)
False symbols and idols of worship will be removed fully, and nothing will stand before God in the eyes of his nation (13-14.)
The enemies of God’s people will fade as full rescue will occur (15.)
A prophetic word for the nation of Israel. A promised truth for the grafted in children of God (you and I and every non-Jew who has surrendered to Christ as Lord, received the Spirit, and have been transformed by God’s amazing grace.)
This is is the great promise. This is GOOD NEWS!!!! 5
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.
The King Rescues
Two comings of Christ 1. To save the world 2. To reign as king
There is a gap between to the two comings of Christ, often not understood by the prophets of Micah’s day. Yet for us today, we recognize this reality of living between the two arrivals of the Messiah – of Jesus Christ.
The Savior of the world would come – he would suffer as Isaiah 53 states. He would be born to die. To die for the sins of humanity. To die as payment of this grave penalty.
Why? Because death is the penalty for sin. Only a sinless one could fully pay for all sins ever committed, being committed, and to be committed. This perfect Son was the sacrifice required for the rescue.
The king is coming. He has come. He has come to save.
You see, no one can save themselves. No one can rescue themselves. Slavery to sin (which we are all guilty) is like a flooded cavern with no way out - with no hope of escape.
Someone had to come to us – to break through the barrier of sin, to get us out, to give us hope and life.
The rescuer is the Messiah. He is the Christ. He is the one born in Bethlehem, the fulfiller of prophecies. The one who lived a sinless life. The one who died on that cross outside Jerusalem. The one who rose again three days later and then later ascended to heaven. The very same one who promised he would come again – to rule and to reign and to complete this good news gospel story.
That is our rescuer. He is drawing you to himself. Now just surrender.
End Notes
1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mic 5:1–15). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
