epcblog

Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Monday, October 06, 2008

Micah 5

Israel is loved by God, and Jerusalem is the place that He chose for the king to rule and for His own house of worship. Yet now it must be defended against foreign troops. They come against Israel with a rod of military power, yet they are the Lord’s rod. These foreign rulers intend to strike the son of David, the king of Judah, on the cheek. From the time of the Babylonian exile until the birth of Jesus Christ, there will be no true king of Israel. Yet one day there would be those even within the Lord’s own people in Israel, who will be ready to strike the Messianic King in the face. He will suffer this measure of His Father’s discipline though He Himself had no sin.

It is in this fifth chapter of Micah that the Lord chooses to announce the birthplace of the Messiah. This would be fulfilled in an amazing display of God’s faithful providence as Mary and Joseph, both descendants of David, would return to Bethlehem in Judah in order to fulfill the requirements of a Roman census. Jesus Christ would be born in the city of David, Bethlehem, not far from Jerusalem. He would be the ruler over the fulfillment of all that Israel was to be. His origin is truly from of old, for He is the eternal God sent from the Ancient of Days.

The Lord gave this prophecy through Micah in a time when God was announcing His coming judgment against His people, a judgment that would result in the loss of a reigning Davidic king. The people of Yahweh would be without a king until the time when this new Messiah King would be born. Then the brethren of the Messiah would be gathered as a flock that would hear His voice, and He would be their Shepherd. Jesus Christ is the eternal King over the eternal kingdom of God that will one day be fully known upon the renewed earth. He shall be our everlasting peace.

The Lord speaks through His Old Testament prophets about the coming days of the worldwide expansion of New Covenant faith and life. There will come a time when no enemy shall harass the Lord’s great kingdom. This message is communicated in the day of Micah by using the words and images of Old Testament life with enough of a stretching metaphor to make it clear that something newer and better is coming, first in the gospel age, but ultimately in the final resurrection age that will be enjoyed at the Lord’s return as the mighty King. Then the enemies of God will be completely cut off and the chosen of the Lord among Israel and all the nations will be safe and blessed.

The problem for Judah in the day of Micah was not merely a problem of outside strength coming against them from Assyria. The Assyrians, and later the Babylonians, surely were an overwhelming problem, but we know that these empires were given success in battle at God’s command and by His providence. The problem was really from the inside. Even if God restrained Assyria and Babylon forever, who would address the internal corruption and sin within the Lord’s covenant people?

One of the glories of the victory of the Messiah is that this inside problem (inside the covenant community and inside our own hearts) is addressed and solved by Jesus Christ. No more sorcery in the church… No more idolatry among us… In fact, during this gospel age, the Lord is not only bringing the elect from the nations into a new Israel. He is also sanctifying His people in a process that is not without pain and struggle. The Lord will have victory in this project. Beyond the age of the gospel we have an age, not only of perfected bodies, but also an age of perfected hearts and minds, perfected desires and intentions, perfect motives and perfected emotions.

If we understand rightly the description of the present heaven from Hebrews 12:22-23 where we are told, “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,” then those who are in Christ who have died are already experiencing life without sin. Our appreciation of Christ and the cross should include a consideration of all of these great benefits. Without our Lord’s atoning suffering what possible right would we have to God’s work of sanctification now and the perfection of holiness when we go to be with Him in heaven?

To reject Christ and all His benefits, to become an enemy of the cross in thought or life is wicked and foolish. When the Lord comes to renew the earth with His beloved heavenly Jerusalem, when He comes to bring about the new resurrection age that will complete the renewal of creation, He will do what He has warned us about in the final verse of this chapter. As the church has confessed for centuries, Christ will return not only with salvation for His children, but with anger, wrath, and vengeance for those who have scorned His grace and hated His people. To state the obvious, His mercy is far better for us than His vengeance. Let us bow before Him in faith now that through His own holy perfections we might escape the fate of those who will not obey the gospel of the divine Son of David who was born to a poor woman in the little town of Bethlehem.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 12:00 AM

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