Jesus is the Answer (Micah 5:2-5)

The previous section in Micah describes a time of trouble for Israel, culminating in an experience of humiliation for their king when a conqueror would show his contempt for the king by smiting him on his face with a rod. Such an action showed the utter weakness, the complete powerlessness and inability of the king of Israel. One obvious feature is that he would be unable to deliver his people. 

 

If that was all that Micah had to say, then there would not be any hope for Israel. The collapse of the monarchy in this way would lead to the demise of the nation. There would be no national future. Instead they would be numbered in the list of conquered peoples that can be found in history books. 

Yet Micah did not stop with his message of judgement and humiliation. Instead, he went on to describe a very bright future for God’s kingdom. But he cautioned it would have this recovery and prosperity at a time when another king would come, and there would be unusual features about him.

 

The coming King

We know that these verses are about Jesus. The Jews knew that they described their Messiah because they referred to this passage when the wise men came to Jerusalem seeking for the one born as the king of the Jews (Matt. 2). 

 

The prophecy tells us that he shall be born in Bethlehem. From one point of view, this could seem encouraging because it could suggest a recovery of the Davidic kingdom, and David had come from Bethlehem. Some could see this reference as saying that what God had done in the past he could do again. ‘Back to Bethlehem’ could even be a powerful slogan.

 

On the other hand, the reference to Bethlehem could suggest the opposite. Bethlehem was only a small village, so obscure that it had to be identified by also using its original name in case it was confused with another place of the same name in the north of the country. It was so small that one could conclude that anyone starting a kingdom there must have small ambitions.

 

Whichever option is correct, we could assume that when the Messiah comes, he will have a quiet beginning. Not much attention will be paid to him to begin with. And is this not what we see with Jesus. Even the New Testament says little about him as far as the first thirty years of his life are concerned. Some details about his birth are recorded in the Gospels, but they may not have been known by many people at the time.

 

Yet we can also see from the prophecy that his coming to Bethlehem was not the beginning of his existence. Instead, his ‘coming forth is from of old, from ancient days’, or from the days of eternity. Jesus would come from the eternal world, not just from the heavenly world. He is not going to be like an angel, a creature who comes from heaven. Rather he comes from days that angels have never experienced – the days of eternity, days which have only been experienced by the triune God. Jesus, after all, is the eternal Son of God. 

 

We are reminded here about what Paul writes in Philippians 2 concerning how the Son of God made himself of no reputation and humbled himself in order to become a man. His humiliation was self-imposed. He voluntarily chose each step. Even his life indicates that feature. Where does one go after descending to Bethlehem? How about descending to Nazareth, about where the guileless Nathaniel said nothing good could be found?

 

Why is the King coming?

But this prophecy also causes us to ask the question, why is he coming? Micah’s prophecy also answers that question when he highlights that Jesus would come to Bethlehem and from there he would serve God – God says that the Messiah would come forth ‘unto me’. Whatever else the words ‘unto me’ mean, they do point to meeting up. Somehow, this coming of the Son from God in eternity included the intention to meet with God in time. It is almost as if we should wonder that, even as they met together in the days of eternity, will they be meeting together in the days of time?

 

Yet we are also told that the Messiah would come to function as a king over God’s people, and that his reigning over them would be an expression of serving God. In other words, although he is coming from the days of eternity, he is coming in a special manner to be a king. Of course, this raises another question, which is, ‘would he be more successful than other kings who came from the line of David, or would he be greater than the previous king who came from Bethlehem?’ Yet we can say that his small, inauspicious beginnings would not hinder him from becoming a king and fulfilling his role, because that is how David progressed.

 

If we had been listening to Micah, we would want to ask another question about his prophecy, which is, ‘When will it be fulfilled?’ The prophecy was given in a time when Israel was about to endure divine judgement for their sins. This judgement would involve exile from the homeland and separation from one another. It will last, says Micah, ‘until the time when she who is in labor has given birth’ (v. 3). This is a reminder that the birth of Jesus was the commencement of the reversal of God’s judgement on his people.

 

Who is the ‘she’ mentioned as being in labour? One possibility is that the prophet means Israel, and that her sufferings in exile are like labour pains which will result eventually in the birth of the Messiah. Another possibility is that Micah is describing Mary, the mother of Jesus. This suggestion is not impossible because Micah prophesied at the same time as Isaiah, and Isaiah did speak about the role of Mary when he predicted that Jesus would be born of a virgin.

 

The recovery is further described as the ingathering of the brothers of Jesus: ‘the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel’ (v. 3). What does that mean? One detail is that ‘the rest of his brothers’ are separate from the people of Israel. But how can they be or become his brothers if they belonged to a different people? 

 

The prophecy must mean that when Jesus was born, he had those called brothers who were separated from the people of God. Perhaps Micah’s hearers would have been puzzled by this reference. Yet there are other prophecies that reveal that people who were not Israelites would become members of the kingdom of God. But here they are not only members of the nation, they are also brothers of the King. We, living in New Testament times, know how that is the case. People who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus become children of God, the family in which Jesus is the elder brother. So there is an announcement here that the King does not merely rule over a kingdom, he also is related to every member of the kingdom and they are also related to every member of the kingdom. Here is a great reminder of the unity that exists among God’s people.

 

It is important to observe the word ‘return’. In it, we see the reality that they had left the people of God at some stage. When did the Gentiles leave the kingdom? They did so when they fell in Adam, but here they are now experiencing what it means to be ‘in Christ’, united forever to Jesus.

 

What will he do when he comes?

As we know, when the Old Testament prophets speak about Jesus, they can do so in three ways. Sometimes, they speak about his first coming, sometimes they speak about his second coming, and sometimes they refer to both comings. Micah here refers to both comings, but as is often the case with the prophets he does not mention all that he could have said about each coming.

 

Micah does not mention the cross of Jesus here. Still that is not a problem because many books of the Bible, including some in the New Testament, do not mention the cross. But we know that the cross is behind them all, casting its shadow over the details mentioned in the books. It is an interesting exercise to engage in – to ask ourselves when we are reading a passage this question, ‘In what way or ways is the shadow of the cross affecting the passage I am reading?’

 

In this prophecy of Micah, the shadow of the cross goes back to the prophecy of the birth of Jesus and tells us that he was born to die, that for him the road from Bethlehem led to Calvary. It is also the case that the shadow of the cross extends forward and is the basis of what is said about Jesus in verses 4 and 5 and pictures what he will do in the period of exaltation that will follow his humiliation.

 

Micah identifies four activities of the Saviour after the cross during the period of his exaltation. First, he will stand; second, he will shepherd; third, he will provide security; and fourth, he will give shalom.

 

Standing

First, Jesus is described as standing. Obviously, this is an illustration pointing to his roles. So what ideas could be in the illustration of standing? One is visibility, that it is not hard for people to see him. Another is stability, because eventually it is the ability to keep on standing that reveals how much strength a person has. There is also a third feature here of nearness because he is depicting as being like a shepherd with his flock.

 

When we apply those ideas to the exalted Saviour, we can see how suitable they are for describing who he is and how we should respond to him. His visibility is clearly revealed in his Word and the response we should have is recognition. His Word shows us that he is highly exalted, and we recognise that position by confessing that he is Lord. 

 

His stability is also revealed in his Word. How long will he continue standing? The answer is always, and Micah tells us how Jesus will be able to do it. He will stand ‘in the strength of the LORD’. This could refer to his own divine strength or it could refer to the enabling of the Holy Spirit. In a sense, they are the same strength since the persons of the Trinity have the same power. We respond to his possession of strength, to his stability, by trusting fully in him.

 

Jesus also does it in such a way that we become conscious of the majesty of God the Father. We know that he came to reveal the Father, and how on the last evening before he died, he mentioned in prayer to the Father that he had revealed the Father’s name to his disciples. It is good to sense the intimacy of the Father, but if it is not accompanied by a sense of his majesty, maybe it is the wrong kind of intimacy.

 

His nearness is also promised in his Word. He told his disciples on giving the Great Commission that he would be with them all the days of their time on earth. He also promised that he would be present where two or three met in his name. His letters to the seven churches tell us that he likes to walk among them, to see what is going on. So he is very near to his people. But how do we respond to the nearness of the Saviour? Surely, the way to respond to his nearness is worship. One of the blessings of Christianity is that we do not worship a distant God.

 

Shepherding

The idea behind shepherding here is feeding rather than guiding. What does he feed his sheep with? He feeds them with himself. There are many aspects to feeding, but the crucial feature of it is absorbing what is provided. It is not feeding if all we do is taste the food and not swallow it. In order for us to continue living, we need to take food into our bodily systems. That is the case also with feeding on Jesus. 

 

Yet we know that it is not beneficial to try and absorb food without breaking it down into smaller pieces. Similarly, we cannot assume that we are feeding on Jesus unless we are making what we know about him easy to digest. Jesus himself does it that way. I suppose we can take as an example what he reveals about himself to the seven churches of Asia. He could have combined his seven statements into one long description and given that combined description to each of the churches. Yet, he broke it down and made it easier for them to absorb. The biblical word for that is meditation. We do not feed properly on Jesus unless we do.

 

This image of Jesus standing and feeding his sheep suggests that he provides each sheep with what it needs. I have no idea if shepherds do that with their sheep, but Jesus does do it with his sheep. We could suggest that he points them to suitable verses that deal with the issue that they may be facing at any particular moment. Jesus does this by the work of the Holy Spirit. He takes of the things of Christ and reveals them to us. Since the Holy Spirit indwells his people, he can bring those details to their minds. Since he is fully wise, he knows what details they need to hear. It is something precious and comforting when that occurs. 

 

So we have absorption by meditation, and we have help by secret communication (secret in the sense that we don’t know how it happens, but lack of knowledge is not a problem; after all, I don’t know how emails works, but I know that they do. And the Holy Spirit is more able at communicating than an email). The proof that we are being spiritually fed is spiritual vitality. In order to have it, we need to feed on what Jesus provides. After all, nothing else, not even religious activities, can substitute for feeding on Christ.

 

Security 

The problem that people had in the time of Micah was that the real danger came from far away. Countries around them did not seem to be of much danger anymore nor were they able to be of much help to the people of Judah. But at the Euphrates lurked the power of Babylon and it was on the move, swallowing up kingdoms great and small. There was no security for Israel if powers faraway were hostile.

 

Yet moving forward to the fulfilment of the prophecy, one of the consequences of the exaltation of Jesus is that he has power everywhere. All power is his in heaven and on earth. Paul tells that Jesus is head over all things for the church. Micah points to that reality when he says that the Messiah will be ‘great to the ends of the earth’. One of the problems with maps and atlases is that they reduce the size of the earth in our estimation. After all, on a map, the United States is shorter than the length of one of my fingers. Yet if I were to try and walk throughout it, it would take decades to cover a small fraction of it. To say that Jesus is in charge of all the earth is to say something incredible about him. He knows what is going on everywhere.

 

Of course, we need to ask what kind of security Jesus provides. Often, if not usually, he provides security in circumstances and not from circumstances. What he keeps secure is our souls, ensuring that each of his people will be brought safely to heaven, to the eternal world. This is the way it has been since he ascended to heaven.

 

Shalom

Micah closes his description of the exalted Saviour by saying that ‘he shall be their peace’, that is the peace of his people. Peace, as we know, is more than the absence of war. Shalom has the idea of wholeness and bounty and satisfaction. Here it describes both a state and an experience. 

 

Christians are given peace with God when they believe in Jesus. Peace with God means that he and they are no longer hostile to one another. Jesus has provided the basis of peace through his death on the cross when he paid the penalty for their sins. This status is permanent and cannot be undone. This is a great blessing for believers to realise, especially when they sin. Such sins cannot bring them back into divine condemnation, although they will be chastised until they repent of them.

 

Jesus also gives to his people his peace, which is an experience in their hearts. He promised it to his disciples in the upper room when he said to them, ‘My peace I give unto you.’ This peace is not dependent on circumstances, rather it is connected to contact with Jesus, which indicates it is a consequence of spending time with him in his Word and in prayer. 

 

Paul refers to the peace of God that passes all understanding and which protects the hearts and mind of believers. But there is a condition for experiencing it – the condition is ongoing contact with Jesus. Unlike peace with God which does not change, the enjoyment of the peace of God can fluctuate and is lost by our failures to walk with the Lord.

 

Conclusion 

This prophecy of Micah concerns the coming of Jesus and its effects on his people. It informs us of who Jesus is as the eternal God, of his humble and low-profile beginning as he served his Father on earth, and of his amazing exaltation to the highest place in heaven. The prophet also describes the activities of the exalted Saviour as he stands strong and glorious, feeding his sheep with himself and giving them security and peace. 

 

A clue to all this is found in the way that Bethlehem is described. Bethlehem means house of bread. Ephrathah was the old name for Bethlehem but the residents continued to use it even after the village was renamed because Ephrathah means fruitful. And we can see how the One who came to that village provides fulfilment of its names. He feeds his people with living bread (himself) and ensures that they are fruitful through his grace. 

 

 

 

 

 

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