4^th Sunday in Advent – December 20, 2009

Grace and peace to you from the Son of God, your Redeemer, your Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Micah 5:2-5 - “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” ³Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. ⁴He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. ⁵And he will be their peace.

Dear saints of God,

It isn’t uncommon when solving a crime, for detectives to go back to the scene where it all took place in an effort to piece together, from the evidence that is there, as to what exactly happened. More than once I have heard of individuals who have had material success in this world, go back to the difficult, rough, poor neighborhoods where they grew up and find that in the end they appreciate their blessings even more. This morning, we want to go back too. Not to the scene of any crime and not to the place we grew up, but we want to go back to Bethlehem. We want to look at the evidence surrounding The Baby born there, so we can marvel at our Savior’s birth. And we want to see what he came to do, so we can appreciate his royal blessings.

The setting for this chapter is given by the prophet Micah in the opening verse, “Marshal your troops, O city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel’s ruler on the cheek with a rod.” The message was clear, prepare for an attack. The Babylonians are coming and a shameful and painful exile will follow 1,000 miles away from home. Even when you return it won’t get much better. You will be forced to submit to Persia, to Alexander the Great and the Greeks, and finally to Rome. The ruling power has departed from Judah. It was at such a time as this, of deep humiliation and disgrace, right when we might expect Micah to vividly describe the savage destruction coming upon them, that he abruptly stops and changes the direction of his message. Do not give up hope. God’s grace always triumphs. Bethlehem will come to the rescue, for here in this small village One will be born who will come to carry out the Father’s saving will. The Messiah is coming. Marvel at our Savior’s birth.

A past time that has become very popular these days is tracing ones ancestry. Hundreds of thousands of intranet sites can be found to help you out. Library books are poured over in an effort to figure out who beget who and when did this name get changed. Well, to figure out where our Savior Jesus’ roots lie all we have to do is go to the text before us. When Micah spoke of the coming Messiah who would appear at Bethlehem, he also indicated what this great ruler’s roots would be. His origins, he said, “are from of old, from ancient times.” Looking at those words, we notice there is something different about Jesus than with every other human. These words meant Jesus would come from eternity, from before the world itself began. Knowing that only God existed before this world came into being, we recognize that Micah is saying that the Messiah would be God.

So simple, yet so full of meaning and significance: “from of old, from ancient times.” In the 7^th chapter of the book of Isaiah, Isaiah had already described the nature of Jesus when he said, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Micah now, in our text, confirms this prophecy. Yes, the Messiah could trace his roots back to David, Abraham, and Adam. Yes, he was the fulfillment of God’s ancient plan to send the perfect ruler. But there was more. He existed before Adam and the promise in the Garden of Eden to the first sinners. God had already planned before the world began that he would personally take action to save the people of this world from everlasting hell when they sinned against him.

Of course, there are those who say Jesus was just a man, and they want you to believe that. Satan wants nothing more than for you to be duped into downplaying the need for Jesus to be God. But we of course must resist such a temptation! And at first glance it may seem like an easy temptation to laugh off and push away. But every temptation of Satan must be taken seriously. So we need to know the reasons why Jesus had to be God. Someone who could serve as our substitute had to have no sin on his record. Our substitute’s life had to be sufficient payment for all the sinful lives of the people in this world? After all, all, including you and me, have sinned and fall short of the perfection God requires. Therefore, God himself had to come to earth and live the perfect life in the place of all the imperfect people of the world. God himself had to give up his life to pay for all the billions and billions of sins we have committed against him.

Yet, while there are those who claim Jesus was only a man, there are those who want to say Jesus was only God. They consider it too lowly for God to experience human birth. This too is a satanic temptation attempting to destroy saving faith. You see, if Jesus were not also a man, his obedience to God’s law would mean nothing. If Jesus had not been a man, he would not have been able to die. But Jesus is true man. This is exactly what Micah prophesies as he says that God’s very own Son would enter the world through human birth. Not only Micah, but all of Scripture is full of evidence. We look again at Isaiah’s prophecy, “The virgin will be with child and give birth to a son” (Isaiah 7:14). “The holy one to be born will be the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Yet, why is it that God humbled himself in this way? Listen to him tell us, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Galatians 4:4,5). When God’s own law was crushing the sinners of this world with its weighty commands and demands, God put himself under that burden and carried it himself as a human being. He became a substitute for all other human beings, for you and me. Instead of crushing us and sending us to hell, the law crushed Jesus instead.

So, as we go back to Bethlehem, as we look at the evidence, we can’t help but marvel at our Savior. He is exactly what we need. We are under the curse of sin and can only claim imperfection. And please, don’t sit there all self-righteous, thinking that in some way you aren’t under the curse of sin. Just look at your life! We are born under the law only to be condemned by the law to an eternity in hell because of our sins. That’s why Jesus was born true man, in order to be born under the law and to die in our place, but he is also true God, in order that his perfect life and his sacrificial death could count for everyone. God said that sin must be punished and paid for and perfection was still required for eternal life. So, God sent his Son Jesus, as the perfect Lamb of sacrifice to be our substitute - he has removed the curse of sin and supplies perfection and holiness as a gift. Now the salvation Jesus won for all people is our own as we believe in Jesus as our Savior.

Marvel at your Savior, dear Christian friends. And now appreciate his royal blessings.

God’s Old Testament people were not left on their own when it came to living their lives. In God’s Old Testament order he had placed over them his divinely appointed kings. They were to care for the people; defend them from their enemies; and provide them with comfort and security in the way a shepherd takes care of his sheep. Above all, they were to provide spiritual leadership for the people, pointing them in the right direction in their relationship to God. Yet, as we learn from our study of God’s Old Testament people, seldom did the kings do as God asked. Even David, as God-fearing and great as he was, could not provide these things perfectly for the people. Yet, Micah says there is one who can. That is the King, the Ruler who would come from Bethlehem. This new king would be so completely different from the rest that Micah doesn’t even call him a king, but rather a ruler. And of this ruler he says, “He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace.”

Micah tells us this ruler is not only loving, but strong, for he will rule with the Lord’s own strength. Those same characteristics apply also to his shepherding. A shepherd was a common occupation at the time of Jesus. They had to watch the flocks constantly; they would guide their flocks along narrow mountain paths and lead them away from dangerous ravines; on hot days they would seek out shade and water; and at night they would stand guard to protect their flocks from wild animals and to calm them during the storm.

In Jesus, we have our shepherd who satisfies us with everything we need. As Psalm 23:1,2 so beautifully puts it, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads be beside quite waters.” In Jesus, we have our Good Shepherd who has gone to the point of giving up his life for us. As Jesus himself says in John 10, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me…and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14,15). Here, in Jesus, we have the shepherd who gives us eternal life. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27,28). Without Jesus we would all go astray following our own sinful inclinations and desires right into the abyss of hell. But with our shepherd he brings us to the security of sins forgiven. He guards us from dangers that threaten our faith. He fights our battles with us and for us. He defeated sin, death and hell in order that we might have peace in him. Peace, that is the rest and contentment that fills the hearts of those who know Jesus and his forgiving love. The feeling that comes from knowing that we are God’s children through Christ and that God is our friend and all is well with us. It is the confidence of knowing that now and in the unknown future, our Savior, who loves us, will work all things for the good of his forgiven children.

What a Bethlehem present! What a magnificent baby in that manger! Our Savior! Our God! Come to buy back the world from their sins. Come to make peace with God possible. Today, we celebrate the 4^th Sunday in Advent. Next time we come together it will be Christmas Eve. We will be getting ready to open presents. We will perhaps be traveling to visit family. We will be putting on the final touches for the Children’s Christmas Eve Service. Yet, amongst all this commotion, in the middle of all the hoopla, please, please, return to Bethlehem and marvel at our Savior and appreciate the royal blessings you have because of him and through him. Amen.