The Hinge of History • Micah 5

50:24 Teaching begins

Notes

If you think something is unimportant you’ll get rid of it. You’ll let it go. You’ll lose it. If that something was really valuable and you didn’t know it that would be tragic.

One thing you don’t want to lose is Christmas because it’s valuable. It’s the crucial point when all of God’s promises change from being potential to being fulfilled.

You want to hang on to Christmas because it’s the very hinge of history.

I’m reading in Micah chapter five (vv. 1-2)

1. The context of this announcement shows how important this hinge is.

A. I say the word “hinge” because a hinge is that point on which everything else depends. If things go one way, you get that result. It it goes the other way, you get a completely different result. They made a movie about what would have happened if the hinge had gone the other way and Germany had won World War II. It would have been a completely different world.

B. The first three chapters of Micah show God accusing Israel of sin and promising judgment. “I will make Samaria a heap of ruins,” God says in 1:6. But in 3:12 Jerusalem also will become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the temple will become high places of a forest. Israel is headed for destruction for its sin against God.

C. In light of this opposition of God it’s amazing that in chapter four He promises peace for Israel. That mountain of the Lord will be the tallest mountain in the world and there all the earth will come to seek the Lord and learn His ways. There won’t be any more war. The Lord will reign over all the earth and the dominion will come to Israel. It will be the foremost nation on earth. God will use Israel to pulverize many peoples and devote their unjust gain to the Lord. It will be a world of righteousness in the future.

D. But now it’s not right. In the last part of chapter four there is tension in the present, the now. No king is a help, no counselor can help. Anguish and pain grip you like a woman in birth. You’ll be besieged, defeated, deported. Your ruler will be degraded and punished. There’s this sense of—this is what’s happening in the present.

E. So how in the world is Israel going to make it from the now, when God is pronouncing sin and judgment and captivity and punishment, to a future of peace, happiness, fulfillment, contentment, glory, dominion, and power? How’s that work?

F. This is the context for chapter 5:2 which in Hebrew is the first verse of chapter five.

2. Now God says He will do something that will change everything for good, vv. 2-15.

A. God speaks to an insignificant place, Bethlehem Ephrathah. It’s the smallest, the lowest, the least, nothing that this world considers to be anything. It’s not a center of manufacturing, or economy, it’s not a capital city, it’s not prominent or powerful or even a good tourist destination. It’s a nothing place.

B. And He says, from you One will go forth for Me. He will do My will, act in My place, represent Me. He will rule in Israel with the authority and power of God.

C. This One who will represent God is Himself God.

1. “Goings forth” is a noun used only once in the Bible, meaning “origin, going forth, going out.” The rise or beginning from a source.

2. His origin is ancient even in the time when Micah is receiving this prophecy. We count ancient as history from the dawn of civilization to the sack of Rome in the fourth century A.D. The Bible doesn’t teach reincarnation. This is someone who has existed since times that Micah would consider ancient.

3. But even greater than that, this One is from the days of eternity. Before there was a heaven or an earth or any creation, He already was.

4. The only person this can be is God, but you notice that God refers to this One as He, as a person distinct from Himself, yet eternal and co-existent with God. So this One is well able to represent God and rule for God because He is God.

3. The turning point with Israel comes when this One who is God is born as a baby.

A. Verse three says God will give them up (His people Israel), until the time when she who is in labor has borne a child. God will let His people go their own way for a time.

B. But when this child is born then God acts.

1. Then the remainder of His brethren will return to the sons of Israel. All Israel will be gathered together from where they have been scattered.

2. He, that One, will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. Notice He will tend His flock, that great Shepherd of the sheep. He will have the power of God and the majesty of God because He has the name of God. All that God is, this One is.

3. These brethren who return will remain. They won’t wander off or be lost or scattered ever again. This great Shepherd will keep the brethren.

4. This great One who is God will be great to the ends of the earth. All over the earth this One will be known and obeyed.

5. This One shall be our peace. He will be our wholeness, our harmony, our joy, our satisfaction. Only God can satisfy us and rejoice our hearts.

6. When an enemy rises up against Israel to oppress and plunder and trample there will be plenty of leaders and shepherds to resist and actually rule over the attackers.

7. The remnant of Israel is going to be a blessing to the world and they will execute justice. They will pulverize the wicked.

C. These things that God does with Israel fulfills the destiny that He gave to them. He keeps the promises He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and David.

4. We also notice that there’s a gap between the fulfillment of this promise and all the other ones.

A. We can see that this prophecy was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, being born as a baby human being in Bethlehem. God was born into the world as one of us.

B. But the rest of chapter five hasn’t happened. Israel hasn’t returned to the Lord, Jesus hasn’t arisen and shepherded His people in the majesty of the name of the Lord. The Jews are not the blessing that God intends for them to be.

C. Like many Old Testament prophecies there is a gap in the fulfillment.

1. It reads like it’s all one stream of action but history shows Jesus was born, He was rejected by His people, He suffered for the sin of the world and died. He rose from the dead in newness of life. He taught His disciples for forty days after His resurrection. They asked Him, “Lord, is it at this time that you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” They’re thinking of this prophecy here. It seems like it’s the next thing to come. This is it, right?

2. Jesus answers, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.”

3. And it’s been almost 2000 years since that.

D. One reason for this delay is that God is merciful. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

E. God has other reasons as well that He keeps to Himself. He gets to because He’s God and He knows better than we do.

5. What do we do with Christmas? We value it highly, celebrate it rightly, and make much of it to others.

A. The coming of God into this world to become one of us is the turning point in history.

1. God has gone on record that He will bless the earth, He will restore all things, He will remove the effects of sin, He will glorify and transform this fallen world and us.

2. The promise is great; the fulfillment is greater. Hope is absolutely necessary; the fulfillment of hope is rising from the dead unto eternal life.

3. Did you notice that there is no commercialism in Micah 5? There’s no tinsel or red-nosed reindeer or Father Christmas. That’s not Christmas. We reject that as being a holiday of the world.

4. But Christmas is from God, and it is good news unto all men. God keeps His promises. Because God kept this greatest promise, we know that He will keep all His promises in His time. We long for that day, and we are content to wait.

B. Here’s how to celebrate Christmas rightly: you open up your heart to Jesus.

1. There is one more small place He wants to come to and that is your heart, to live with you forever. Because He could humble Himself to be born in Bethlehem, you know, you can be confident, that He will come to you as well. There is no difference.

2. What He gives right now in the present is the greatest gift. He becomes our peace. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

C. We want to make much of Christmas to others.

1. Christmas gives us a built-in opportunity to tell people who Jesus is. Our God is the One who humbled Himself, He came to be with us, because He loves us and doesn’t want us to perish. He came to die for us to give us forgiveness of our sins and eternal life. There is no God who saves like Him.

2. Some people object to Christmas trees. We’re going to ignore Christmas. We’re not here to defend Christmas trees. We’re here to make much of Jesus. So I say let’s use our opportunity every Christmas while we can.

3. The time is short. God is only going to turn away from His people Israel for a time, which had a beginning and it has an end. God will soon turn again to His people and all the wrath He promised will be fulfilled and all the blessings will be fulfilled. Now is the time to live for Jesus. We have a couple of meetings left for the year, next week, Christmas Eve. Let’s pray that God helps us use the time while we still have it to tell people about Jesus.

Let’s pray.