Micah 5:2
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
Several years ago I went to Orlando International Airport to pick up a young man whom I had never met. We had talked numerous times on the phone, but had not yet met in person. Before making the hundred mile drive to an airport that has almost thirty five million customers every year, I wanted to be sure I’d be able to pick my friend out of the hundred thousand people milling about. I asked him how I would recognize him. He responded by telling me, he had blond hair and was six feet, six inches tall. A few hours later, I walked into the airport and found him among the masses. Two characteristics were enough to distinguish him from the crowd.
Ever since the fall of man, God began promising to send a savior into the world, to restore mankind back to God. In order to distinguish the promised one from all others, certain details were given regarding his birth, life, character, and death. All of these details were designed so He would be easily recognizable among the masses. Here, Micah gives one such detail. He declares that the promised Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. This promise alone vastly decreases the possibilities as to who the Messiah is, since Bethlehem was a relatively small city, and even today does not produce a large percentage of the world’s births. This, coupled with prophecies that tell of the timing of His coming, the genealogy of the Messiah, the role He will play in humanity, and the descriptions given of his death and resurrection, makes it easy to pick Jesus out among the many who claim to know the way to God.
Clearly God wants us to know Him. The question we want to ask ourselves is whether or not you have believed in Christ as Savior, and had your sins forgiven. If not, take time right now to pray and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin, come into your life, and help you live for Him.
Pastor Jim
Micah prophesy’s specifically about the cause of the fall of the Judaean city of Lachish. Lachish was the second most important city of the Judah. It was located about 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem and was designed as a stronghold to protect the nation against invasions. It was situated on a hill, surrounded by hills and fortified with great walls and gates. This seemingly impenetrable city would suffer a great defeat when, under the leadership of Sennacherib, the Assyrian forces attacked. Micah declares that the cause of their defeat was sin. The inhabitants of Lachish seemed to have introduced many of the sinful practices, rampant in Israel, to the people of Judah. Their sin would be the cause of their fall. It is worth noting, no high walls or trained army can protect a nation that turns from God.
Paul referred to the believer as a soldier, and compared the Christian life to a battle ground. One of the reasons the Christian life is often difficult, is because we are fighting on two fronts. A large part of our battle is seeking to see others impacted for the Kingdom of God. We enter the arena to fight whenever we pray for the unsaved or the backslider. Scripture tells us our weapons are not carnal but they are mighty and able to pull down strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4). The weapons we have been given are prayer, the Word of God and our personal testimony. When those are used together, we will find that we become effective in impacting others for the kingdom of God.
Over the past year we have seen summits on global warming, protests against the cruelty to animals, and the unjust treatment of certain groups of individuals. It is clear that people feel justified in demanding the ethical treatment of the planet and its inhabitants. While it is clear that we bear a responsibility before God for the way we treat what He has given us to care for, it is also true, we can become consumed with other things and forget that the most valuable, and often most neglected resource in the world, is the human soul. Jonah wept over the mistreatment of a plant and cared little for the eternal souls of the inhabitants of Nineveh.
God has chosen to reveal the plan of salvation through the foolishness of preaching. Nowhere, is that better illustrated than in the story of Jonah. This reluctant preacher delivered a message that turned a nation toward the Lord. As the king heard this message, his heart was stirred to turn from his wicked ways and begin to follow Jehovah. In his desperation, he asked a deeply profound question. Is it possible to know for sure that our sins have been forgiven and we have been set free from the judgment of God?
I have always been fascinated by the comment Jesus made to Nathaniel when they first met; the Gospel of John records,
Although very few people have ever been swallowed by a great fish, the story of Jonah is still a pretty common one. It tells of a man who refused to do what God called him to until the chastening of the Lord got his attention. It is remarkable how long Jonah endured this chastening before he called on God and amended his ways. I have often wondered at what point along the way I would have obeyed. He had his first opportunity when he heard the word of God, his second, when the storm hit, and his third when the sailors awoke him, cast lots, and determined the storm was his fault. His fourth opportunity came when the sailors, who had been idol worshippers, turned their lives over the the Lord. His fifth chance came when he was cast into the sea, and his sixth, when a great fish opened its mouth and swallowed him whole. This is where the stubbornness of Jonah really stands out. He tells us, with his body wrapped in seaweed and stuck in what seemed like his eternal grave, that it took three days before he cried out to God and repented of his disobedience.
The story of Jonah has two main themes. The first is to reveal the heart of God for the lost. However, before this can be fully developed we are introduced to the second theme, the disobedience of Jonah. Three of the four chapters teach us of the sin and suffering of a wayward prophet. His is the story of a man who experiences unnecessary suffering that could have been avoided through simple obedience.
