Introduction will get me via the winter.
Now, the Minnesota winters are nothing to trifle with. They will final a full 4 months, generally 5. Earlier than lengthy, these winters really feel like half the 12 months. But at the same time as a South Carolina native, I endure them properly sufficient with the assistance of a superb Introduction.
The sunshine and heat of a Christian December go a good distance in taking the sting off these lengthy, darkish, merciless winters. Earlier than lengthy, it’s January. Sure, two frigid months nonetheless lie forward. Nonetheless, 12 months after 12 months, I discover {that a} good, deliberate, relished non secular journey as much as Christmas helps shorten the winter up right here within the northern latitudes.
Marvels of the One Who Comes
Among the best methods to savor the Introduction season is to linger over the placing glories of these many Previous Testomony prophecies that anticipated the approaching of Christ. We have now our beloved passages from Isaiah, and one we frequently attain for, from his modern, is Micah 5:2–5.
Like Isaiah, Micah writes some seven centuries earlier than the approaching of Christ. God gave him a glimpse, and put a phrase in his mouth, that may feed God’s individuals for seven hundred years with well-founded hope. Nonetheless in the present day these verses affirm for the church the facility of our God and his phrase, with the majesty and humility of Christ.
The wonders of our God, and his sending his personal Son at Christmas, are far previous discovering out. But even right here, in a prophecy that predates the primary Christmas by seven hundred years, we glimpse three beautiful glories of the one who “comes forth” at Christmas, the one we await once more every Introduction.
1. He Comes from Modest Inventory
We may be so accustomed to the identify Bethlehem that we miss the marvel of it. It could not have been the tiny backwater that Nazareth was, however it was modest, even with its regal overtones.
“Among the best methods to savor Introduction is to pause over the placing glories of the primary prophecies that anticipated Christ’s coming.”
Initially generally known as Ephrath (Genesis 35:16, 19; 48:7), it was first remembered in historical Israel because the burial place of Jacob’s beloved spouse, Rachel, who died giving beginning to Benjamin. Later, after centuries in Egypt, the wilderness wandering, and the nation’s institution within the promised land, the city was generally known as Bethlehem throughout the interval of judges and subsequently.
However the metropolis’s associations with Rachel had been eclipsed when Israel’s second king, and best sovereign, got here to the throne round 1000 BC. Then the little city was exalted with its shepherd of humble origin. So Micah prophecies,
you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who’re too little to be among the many clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who’s to be ruler in Israel . . . (Micah 5:2)
The primary glory of the one coming forth is that he comes from Bethlehem. In Micah’s day, God had already completed this as soon as with David — the shepherd rising to the throne. Now, some three centuries later, the prophet tells of one other ruler who will come up, and ascend, like David, and from David’s personal line and city. Actually, God had promised this, in essence, to David throughout his lifetime:
I’ll elevate up your offspring after you, who shall come out of your physique, and I’ll set up his kingdom. . . . And your home and your kingdom shall be made certain eternally earlier than me. Your throne shall be established eternally. (2 Samuel 7:12–16)
David’s son Solomon was a primary achievement of the prophecy, however he too, like his father, died. He couldn’t reign eternally. What this primary glimpse from Micah establishes (at minimal) just isn’t solely the Coming One’s pedigree in David’s line, but additionally his humanity. Clearly, the one coming forth shall be human, David’s personal offspring, and, for all his majesty, a human ruler (“descended from David in line with the flesh,” Romans 1:3).
Apart from, why would anybody anticipate this coming Messiah might be something apart from human? Nonetheless, the prophet, talking on God’s behalf, offers one other glimpse within the subsequent line.
2. He Comes from Historic Occasions
What the prophet says subsequent may lead us to marvel if the little city just isn’t the Messiah’s origin however his portal. He comes from Bethlehem, sure, but additionally via Bethlehem:
. . . from [Bethlehem] shall come forth for me
one who’s to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of previous,
from historical days . . . (Micah 5:2)
He’s from Bethlehem, but not in the end from Bethlehem. Quite, mysteriously, this coming one is “from of previous, from historical days.” He’s a human ruler, descended from David, and rising up like David from a modest upbringing, however he’s greater than a human king. And this isn’t David reincarnate, or some historical champion, again from the grave — and even an angel in human flesh. That is in some way the Historic of Days himself, the one one who actually is “of previous” — God himself come as man, via the portal of Bethlehem, to rule as man. Bethlehem is his threshold; an unwed maiden his door; however his origin is divine, earlier than the muse of the world.
3. He Involves Shepherd with Power
Nonetheless, Micah forecasts extra. Sure, he’s absolutely man, and but in some way additionally divine — each God and likewise in some way man. However Micah tells us not simply his essence however his method, not solely who will rule however how he’ll reign:
And he shall stand and shepherd his flock within the power of the Lord,
within the majesty of the identify of the Lord his God.
And so they shall dwell safe, for now he shall be nice
to the ends of the earth.
And he shall be their peace. (Micah 5:4–5)
That is exceedingly excellent news for his flock, his individuals — and horribly unhealthy information for his or her enemies.
He’ll “shepherd his flock,” says Micah, an image of compassion and concern, loving provision and safety. And he’ll accomplish that “within the power of the Lord.” In different phrases, he shall be a sturdy shepherd, sturdy sufficient that his flock may dwell safe below his rule and revel in actual peace in him — and it will imply the alternative for the foes of his flock.
That their shepherd is powerful is ominous for his or her enemies. And that their shepherd is powerful is a candy balm for his individuals: “they shall dwell safe . . . he shall be their peace.”
Peace to His Folks
The approaching of such peace, within the Robust Shepherd, to the ends of the earth, is a surprising Christmas declaration. Nonetheless in the present day, these residing phrases in an historical prophet are an invitation to all, to any who would bow to embrace the God-man. However these phrases will not be a promise to all. They’re a promise of peace to those that obtain him, at the same time as they’re a portentous warning to those that is not going to bow.
When he comes, the multitude of the heavenly host say,
Glory to God within the highest, and on earth peace amongst these with whom he’s happy! (Luke 2:14)
His introduction is not going to imply peace for unrepentant rebels. However for his flock, his blissful topics, his glad worshipers, his expensive buddies, his second coming will carry the peace and ultimate security for which our souls have at all times ached — a grace actually worthy of the phrase “everlasting safety.”
And until then, we wait — even and particularly in winter — feeding, as our forebears did, on the sunshine and heat of his promised Introduction.
