Micah 5

0:00Welcome to Bible chapter every day. I'm Matthew. Our chapter today is Micah 5. Let's go to God in prayer. Heavenly Father, your great, your plans are great, your plans are amazing. We can see by faith that your kingdom is very powerful already, that you will defeat all of your enemies. We want to serve you now and be a part of your kingdom. Even though the majority of the world doesn't recognize you or your kingdom, we do know that you will win and one day everyone will see your kingdom and admit your greatness. You are great, amen. Micah 5 Now muster troops, O daughter of troops, a siege he puts against us.

1:01They strike the ruler of Israel with a rod on the cheek. But you, O Bethlehem, Effratha, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you one will go out for me, to be ruler in Israel, and his origins are from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he will give them up until the time of she who is with child has given birth, and the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel. And he will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God, and they will live. For now he will be great unto the ends of the earth, and this one will be peace. As for the Assyrian, when he comes into our land, and when he treads on our fortresses, then we will raise up against him seven shepherds and eight leaders of men, and they will shepherd

2:05the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances, and he will rescue us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land, and when they tread upon our border. And the remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many nations, like dew from Yahweh, like showers upon the grass, which does not wait for a man, nor delays for the children of humankind, and the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the wild animals of the forest, like a young lion among the herds of sheep, which, when it passes through and treads down and tears and pieces, there is none who can deliver. Your hand will be lifted high over your enemies, and all your foes will be cut off, and it will happen that in that day declares Yahweh, that I will cut off your horses from among you, and I will destroy your chariots,

3:07and I will cut off the cities of your land, and I will demolish all your fortifications, and I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you will not have soothsayers, and I will cut off your idols, and your stone pillars from among you, and you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands, and I will uproot your ashras from among you, and I will destroy your cities, and in anger, and in wrath, I will execute vengeance on the nations who did not obey. Well, that's the reading. Let's dig in. The first two chapters of Micah were one section, and it started with the word here, and it talked about God's coming judgment, and about their sin, but then it ended with a verse of hope for the future. Chapter 3 started the next section with the word translated in this translation, listen, and it talked about the sin, and the coming judgment. Chapter 3 ended saying

4:11Jerusalem would be a heap of rubble, although that didn't end the section. Chapter 4 continued the section with an extended prophecy of good news for the future. It talks about how eventually Jerusalem will be exalted, all the enemies will be defeated, and now this chapter continues the section talking about the future. It starts with the negative future, a siege, and the ruler of Israel struck on the cheek, which was humiliating, and then it gets into the positive, and that positive starts with Bethlehem, a very small town, about five miles from Jerusalem, so small that it isn't included in the list of towns in the book of Joshua, but the ruler will come from there. David was from Bethlehem, so the Jews would recognize this as a prophecy of the Messiah, the son of David. But this ruler from Bethlehem is really something, in verse 2 he says he's from evolved

5:14from ancient days. Micah says Israel will be given up until the child is born, and then things will turn good. This great shepherd will shepherd in the name of Yahweh, and rule not just Israel, but to the ends of the earth. And he gives, as an example, a Syria, which was the major power at the time Micah wrote, if a Syria tries anything, then the Messiah will put shepherds and commanders in charge of a Syria to shepherd them with a sword. A Syria was the world power at this time, so they could conquer anyone and rule over them and demand tribute. But the idea here is that if a Syria tries that with a Messiah, he will turn it around on them and rule them. It also mentions the land of Nimrod. Nimrod is in the book of Genesis and started many of the cities of Assyria, as well as Babylon. Micah says that the Israelites will be in the middle of

6:16lots of different countries, spread all over, but they will be like lions among sheep, in other words, they will be powerful wherever they are. And Yahweh says that in that day he will get rid of all of the physical things that they trusted in, the horses and chariots and fortifications. Those are physical protections from war. The sorceries and susseirs and idols and stone pillars those of the false worship trying to control the future themselves. And Yahweh says he will punish the nations who do not obey, presumably those who do not obey the Messiah. And now for a deeper dive. The book of Matthew quotes from this chapter and applies it to Jesus. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Jesus is from ancient days. Jesus will rule all the nations and bring peace. And this remnant of Israel scattered among the nations? Well, I think that's all the followers of Jesus, including us. We are lions among sheep.

7:22Not physically, though. We aren't out there taking physical things from people, but spiritually we're the strong ones. Everyone else is living in darkness. They don't really understand what is going on or how things will turn out. They don't know who's really in control. And so they may try to attack the Messiah and His people, and it won't turn out well for them in the end. But we don't defeat these enemies of God with weapons of war. We don't have some powerful magic to bend things to our will. The power is all in God. Our power is just faith in God, which is why the world cannot understand it. It isn't physical. We can get carried away by that physical look if we aren't careful to think physical and spiritual. Some people get into politics and think that they can solve the world's problems politically. Something that we need a stronger organization with headquarters and glossy brochures and

8:24multiple levels of management. We can think like the world and think that we need numbers to track how many people have been saved, how many dollars raised, graphs going up into the right. But Jesus said His kingdom is not of this world. His kingdom doesn't work like the world. His kingdom is scattered through all the nations, even North Korea, where we cannot track any numbers, and it all seems dark from the world's perspective. But one day, it will all become visible. Do we have the faith to see it now? Scripture quotations are from the Lexum English Bible. Copyright 2012, Logos Bible Software. Lexum is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.