God has a plan for me and God has a plan for the world. God has a plan for me and for
my present world (the world I live in right now). In Micah chapter 5 we will learn about
this wonderful plan.
In Micah 5:1 we learn about a time when the nation of Israel was in great trouble. The enemy had come and laid siege against them (this is when an army comes against a city and makes a blockade so that no one can come in or go out, thus forcing the city to surrender). This is exactly what the Babylonians did to the city of Jerusalem. We read about this in 2 Kings 25:1-3. What did the Babylonians do to King Zedekiah (2 Kings 25:4-7)? ___________________ ___________________________
Is there any hope for this nation? Is there any deliverance for the nation? Will Israel have any great rulers or will they all be defeated like King Zedekiah? These questions are answered in Micah 5:2.
Micah 5:2 is one of the most wonderful prophecies in all the Bible. This verse talks about the One who is going to be "R___________ in Israel." Where will this Ruler come from? According to this verse, in what city will this Ruler be born? B_________________________ Was this prophecy fulfilled just as Micah 5:2 says (Luke 2:4-7)? ___________
Keep in mind that Micah wrote this prophecy about 700 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem! This would be like a person living 400 years before Columbus discovered America (Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and this person would be living about 1100) predicting the exact birthplace of Abraham Lincoln (who was born in 1809). Or this would be like one of us trying to predict the birthplace of someone who will be born in the year 2700!
How did Micah do it? How did he know the exact place where Christ the Messiah would be
born? Was it just a lucky guess? How did he know (see Isaiah 46:9-11)?__________
_______________________________________________________ Does God know everything about the
year 2700? _____
Bethlehem was a very small shepherding village. It was not too far from Jerusalem, only about 6 miles away. It was not a large city and it was not a great city. There was only one thing that made this city special: KING DAVID WAS BORN THERE (see Luke 2:4--it was called the "city of _______________"). Today the "little town of Bethlehem" is a very famous city because the Lord Jesus Christ (David’s son) was born there.
In Matthew chapter 2 we learn that the wise men came to the city of Jerusalem looking for the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:1-2). They asked the Jews this question (Matthew 2:2): "Where is He?" King Herod then asked the Jews where the Messiah would be born (Matthew 2:4). These Jews knew what the Old Testament said. They knew what the book of Micah said. What Old Testament verse did they use to answer King Herod (Matthew 2:5-6)? ____________ Was their answer correct? ______
These Jews had the right answer. They knew that their sing was to be born in Bethlehem. But did they go to Bethlehem to worship Him (see Matthew chapter 2)? ____ Did the wise men go? _____ Remember, how far away from Jerusalem was Bethlehem? ____________These Jews would not even walk 6 miles to worship their King! They had the right answer, but the answer did not mean very much to them.. They had Micah 5:2, but Micah 5:2 did not have them. They had the truth but the truth did not have them.
You might be able to quote JOHN 3:16 and get every word correct. But how much does this verse really mean to you? Is it just words to you or have those words changed your life? May God’s Word stir us and move us and change us! The Jews who lived in the days when Christ was born were not stirred very much. The only ones who came to worship the Christ child were a few humble shepherds!
Micah 5:2 tells us something very interesting about this Ruler who would be born in Bethlehem. It tells us that the baby born in this tiny village was the ETERNAL GOD:
We need to remember that the life of the Lord did not begin with the birth of a baby in Bethlehem. Abraham lived about 2000 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and yet Jesus once said, "BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS,____ ______" (John 8:58), He could have said, "BEFORE ADAM WAS, I AM!" As God, Jesus had no beginning, but Jesus became a man (John 1:14) and was born in Bethlehem. HE’S THE GOD-MAN!
The prophet Isaiah lived about the same time as Micah (700 years before Christ was born) and he also gave us some amazing and wonderful prophecies about the GOD-MAN:
God’s program with the nation Israel can be seen in two stages: 1) GOD ABANDONS THE PEOPLE; 2) GOD REGATHERS THE PEOPLE AND ACTS AS THEIR SHEPHERD.
Why would God abandon His people? Did not Christ come to save and deliver His people? The problem was this: ISRAEL REJECTED THEIR RULER! See John 19:15. Micah 5:3 tells us about this abandonment. It says, "Therefore will He _________ them ______." But it does not say that He will give them up forever! God has not cast away His people (Romans 11:1). In the future Israel’s Ruler will return again and will be Israel’s great SHEPHERD-KING (see Micah 5:4).
Micah 5:3 and 5:8 speak of a "REMNANT" of the children of Israel. A remnant means "a small part; not the whole group, but only a part of the group." Suppose you were in study hall in school and the great majority of students wanted to talk and fool around instead of study. Suppose that there were only 5 or 6 students who wanted to read and study. We could say this: "In study hall there is only a REMNANT of students who are studying, not the whole group." The same is true with the nation of Israel. The large multitudes rejected Christ and wanted nothing to do with him. But there will be a small remnant of Jews who will believe on Him. God will deal with this remnant in grace and mercy and they will be delivered.
In the last days, are there going to be people who will not believe the promise that
Christ
is coming again (2 Peter 3:3-4)? ________ They will even make fun of this promise and
laugh at those who really believe that He is coming. These mocking people have NO FUTURE
HOPE and therefore they are not able t deal with their PRESENT PROBLEMS in the right way.
As man refuses to believe God’s promise, what does God do? GOD WAITS! God "is LONG ___________________ toward us" (2 Peter 3:9). He is "long before getting angry." Why does God WAIT (Isaiah 30:18)? ________________________
As God waits to be gracious to sinful man, what should we do?
We can WASTE THE TIME…
We can WORRY...
We can WORK AT OUR PRESENT PROBLEMS (with our eyes on
God’s future promise).
ON WHICH SIDE ARE YOU?
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| No future Saviour (because I do not believe the promise of future deliverance) and so there is no saving of my todays. | The Saviour of my Tomorrows is saving me in my todays. I believe His Promise, and I know that the same God who will deliver then can deliver me now! |
Christ the Mighty Ruler will bring perfect peace to this troubled world. Enemies will be completely destroyed (Micah 5:9). We already learned about this wonderful peace in Micah 4:3-5. Isaiah spoke of this day of peace also (see Isaiah 9:7).
As Micah looked down the road, God helped him to see victories near and far:
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Our present problems rightly faced and tackled now point to future ones and future victory and to the future Lord of our victories and His reign. |
How would you like it if every time you sat down on a chair someone would come along and kick it right out from under you! In the last days, God is going to do this to the nation Israel. He is going to remove everything that Israel was trusting (see Micah 5:10-14). He will destroy everything that Israel relied on instead of God (armies, weapons, witchcraft, idols, false gods, etc.). The only chair God wants them to sit on is Himself! God will deliver His people from false confidence which tricks and traps.
Jesus Christ came to earth the first time to be the SAVIOUR. But many Jews (like the Pharisees and Sadducees} were disappointed by His first coming. This is why they crucified Him.
These Jews were very pleased by His miracles. They were ready to cheer Him and make Him King when He fed the 5000 and filled their stomachs with food (John 6:15,24- 26). They were glad when He healed people and cast out demons. They wanted a King who could feed them every day, keep them healthy on the outside (physically) and deliver them from the Romans.
Jesus could do all of these things, but lie wanted to do something much more important. God giving me different things (food, health, etc.) is one thing, but God SAVING ME from MY SIN is another thing. The SOVEREIGN SAVIOUR is the SOLVER OF ALL. He came to FIX MEN and to CHANGE MEN. The Jews wanted Jesus to make things right on the outside (to give them peace and health on the outside) but Jesus wanted to make things right on the inside (to give them peace and health in the heart).
Someday God will fix the world (bring peace and prosperity to the world and to the cities where we live), but right now God wants to fix man’s heart (to bring peace and prosperity to the heart so that man might enjoy God and His Presence, Power, Ability, Provision for his every need-Philippians 4:19).
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