[0:00] and turn back to the chapter we had in Micah chapter 5 cutting on our series but for tonight we are taking a pause in chapter 5 because in chapter 5 if we are being honest with ourselves in chapter 5 we find what is probably the most well known verse in the whole of Micah that many of us will have known if no verse, no resection in Micah is chapter 5 that we are almost acquainted with the promise in chapter 5 that from Bethlehem will come this saviour, this king, this messiah from Bethlehem the ruler would come the one who will look after and keep his people so for this evening I want us to focus especially in on verses 2 down to verse 5 we will take in verse 1 also but focusing really on verses 2 down to verse 5 and by verse 5 I mean the first sentence in verse 5 and he shall be their peace, there was a new section in following on after that verses 1 down to verse 5 last week in chapter 4 we saw a glimpse of the future a glimpse of a time when God will reign as aware from his holy mountain when God will reign over all, when all people will come to worship him when all those who are his will come and spend time worshipping at his feet chapter 4 is a great chapter, Micah reminded these people that one day my friends you will have an eternal saviour now in chapter 5 and verse 1 Micah is taking them back again to their current situation oh this will happen in chapter 5 and verse 1 he is talking to them mustered troops, daughter of troops, siege laid against us on the road they shall strike the judge of Israel on the cheek almost a prophecy, almost a foretelling as to what is going to be shouted at and said when the enemy arrives at the door but the people who had such confidence in their power were to be shown very quickly to be powerless
[2:50] Micah is reminding them but right now you are still in trouble you are still in grave danger don't forget that you are going to be taken into captivity don't forget that God has judged you and he will show you his wrath in the years to come thankfully for Micah's day and thankfully for ourselves chapter 5 then goes back to a future day verse 1 is very much focused on where and when for when now do this, now do that, it's going to happen and then in verse 2 look with me please, verse 2 this will happen but but you oh Bethlehem Bethlehem who is too small to be numbered among the cleanser Judah who doesn't seem to really deserve a place fair
[3:58] Bethlehem who is a small town nobody cares much about a strange place to be talked about in the midst of this grand prophecy but you oh Bethlehem like we said Bethlehem a small town and we see here described as Bethlehem, Ephraffra, that second name it's just like the district it's a bad example but it's like, not Carly for example within Carly but really we're not, we're not ever townships village whatever you have here it's here we have Bethlehem Bethlehem is a small area in this larger area Bethlehem I'm sure we all know means town or a place or house of bread house of provision Ephraffra means fruitful house of bread, fruitful house of bread, fruitful a great name to have for a small farming town of course Bethlehem has been mentioned before the folks knew where Bethlehem was because who was born in Bethlehem
[5:21] David was born in Bethlehem King David we see that in 1 Samuel 16 the greatest king up to that point who had been born and ruled over Israel was from Bethlehem up to that point and since that point not much has happened in this small town here we see Micah mentioning it once again saying once our great king came from there but now from his line another is coming this small place will once again be important in fact this small place will be vital to the plan the eternal plan that God has for his people this small place a small town uncared for unknown but God will again use it for his glory the line of David the king's from David has temporarily ceased yes but the promise is made to David and God keeps his promises that one day one will come from your line who will what who will reign and rule forever a greater David a better David one who would be David also not fail in all the ways that he did and in these verses we see a description of that king so in verses 1 to 5 the one is to take a brief look at the four descriptors used for the king he's a ruling king an eternal king a shepherd king and a king of peace a ruling king an eternal king a shepherd king and a king of peace thankfully for us these things do come up roughly verse to verse that would be a bit of jumping around so it's good to have the Bible open as always that being said let's look at the second half of verse 2 from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel there's some things you should perhaps jump out for us here for me so from Bethlehem shall come forth and God's taking here from for me from Bethlehem are rulers coming for me that's cleared up when we think for a second of the life of Jesus what again and again did Jesus say about his mission what again and again did Jesus say about his life about his purpose in being on there that he was there to do his favours well he was there to serve his favours the first words that we see recorded of Jesus in the temple the first words when he goes missing and his poor parents find him of course they scold him for giving him a row for wandering off and they ask what are you doing what does he say to them
[9:06] I must be about my favours business 12 years old Jesus knew his purpose I must be about I have to do the thing I've been sent to do the first word of Jesus is about his purpose the last part of Jesus we have recorded on the cross are what him giving his soul spirit to the hands of his father the first words to the last words and plenty of times in between we see again and again that Jesus has come and Jesus came he was here to do what he was here on behalf of his father I wish not to time tonight not time a thousand sermons to dig and dig into the relationship between our Godhead the faberson spirit a wonderful study a wonderful thing to do I'm sure you've had plenty of sermons on it before but for a second we see a glimpse here at something taking place we no find a favareson in spirit equal in power glory majesty performing as it were different roles different functions in salvation the son comes out of obedience to the father out of love for his people you see here even back in Micah's day that the savior was coming for me as God the father speaks the king would be sent from God the ruler would be sent from God he would come for his people and come from his people he come from you from you he shall come from you shall come forth for me one with the ruler in Israel Jesus came of course out of obedience to the father and came to receive the people for himself but also essential that Jesus came from his people born into the world that he himself created the world that was made through him and for him he's born into all of this is so subtly hinted at here but it's spounded in other parts of the Old Testament and of course we look into a new Testament we see it with the light turned on as it were we have to be careful never to downplay the perfect humanity of Jesus sometimes perhaps we find ourselves thinking of Jesus as being God with the kind of clothing of a man fully man fully God fully man fully God that's important because where is Jesus right now and he's with the Father and glory and right now as we worship our risen king we know from Scripture that he still is in that human form our king will be eternally fully man and fully God he's now of course in his resurrection body but still we'll see him as he is we'll see him come down as he went up the holes are still there will be there for eternity his hands is feet on his side again that quote from Rabbi Duncan that the dust of the earth now sits enthroned in heaven
[13:30] John Al-Makai is a great sermon on that if you can find it I heard it once a year it's worth finding and listening to Jesus this ruling king as this verse just gives us a hint at came from the people born from the people but also came on behalf of God the Father our eternal obedient fully divine and fully perfect human saviour I should blow our minds just now just considering any of that but our ruling king is fully man and fully God so what will he do?
[14:27] he will rule Israel he will come and he will rule Israel the question is does that exclude us?
[14:43] thankfully chapter 4 told us otherwise in chapter 4 we saw that who is going to worship the mountain of God all nations will be there chapter 5 who is Israel?
[14:56] in the New Testament who is Israel? what is Israel? it's the church of God it's the people of God worshiping him God has always had his people and now the people of God a spiritual sense are who are us here in carnal way tonight every Christian our brother and sister is next door brother and sister are across the road in that way brothers and sisters are around a country around the world who worship God but he has come to rule over us all and he is still ruling over us all I said this to conclude last week it doesn't matter if you believe us or not it doesn't really matter if you agree or not what God's word is saying he is still ruling over you that Jesus is ruler wherever you worship him or not your opinion often doesn't change his kingship it changes what will happen when he returns but it does not change his position he will rule over his people he will rule over Israel our God is a ruling king what else do we see?
[16:36] we see he is an eternal king who is coming forth this is the last section of verse 2 who is coming forth is from of old from ancient days strange, strange, turn of phrase a strange thing to put in here he is coming from you he is from the ruler of Israel speaking again of this coming saviour it was coming to Sia who is coming forth is from of old from ancient days and if we try and turn to the Hebrew for some help it gives us nothing this is the best translation we can possibly get as far as the community or shea every Bible translates it almost the exact same way this is it, this is what we have this is what it is saying that the saviour that he is going to be born, yes but he is eternal it is not saying he has been predicted of old his prediction was coming from old from ancient days but his personal movement his action, his moving who is coming forth that is describing, well literally describing an ongoing action quite literally his moving has been from old from ancient days without the view of Jesus as saviour how could we make any sense to these poor people being God revealed to them in glimpses and veiled ways he is revealing to them that the saviour will be born and beffly him but there is more to this saviour he will be born in human flesh here but there is more to him in that he is from old he goes back and back and back his moving, his movement forward has been moving forward since forever essentially he is eternal from ancient days literally from days before recording from days before recording from days before history we might say today he has been the sun has always existed as saviour the sun has always existed just as a fathomnist spirit our wonderful triune God eternally existing by we said perfect unity perfect love, perfect fellowship the king has been moving forever the messiah has been moving forever these words mirror forward to John 1 in the beginning was the word the word was with God and the word was God it should blur our minds our saviour who entered into this world he has been forever no beginning, eternal that's the saviour we worship that's our ruling king and our eternal king this evening the one who saves novelation
[20:39] I am the alpha and the omega beginning and the end and the next bit of that sentence makes no sense whatsoever in Greek who is and who was and who is to come that's the I am of the Old Testament this is it, he is no beginning, no end, he is and that is our king he rules his church he rules his people and he rules eternally and we see glimpses of that all the way through the Old Testament of the sun being crescent the sun being active we quoted that all things are made through him and for him that tells us he was very creation but when God said let there be light the sun is there, the spirit is there for one, out of quite literally thousands of examples we could point to
[21:53] I have a reference in Jesus or looking forward to Jesus I prophesied in Jesus this morning actually a clear example of how Old and New Connect is found in Isaiah Isaiah chapter 6 where Isaiah is given the commissioning from God he is having the vision, he is in the temple if you let me read a few verses from Isaiah chapter 6 in the year of that king Isaiah died Isaiah said that he saw the Lord high and exalted and seated on a throne he saw the Lord high and exalted seated on the throne and the throne of his robe filled the temple the angel of course crying holy, holy, holy the Lord God Almighty heaven and earth are full of his glory so Isaiah when he was seated he is there God is telling him to go and prophesy he can't do it and the angel takes the coal and all that but he is there and he is seeing this man who is clothed in majesty the temple is filled in glory angels covering him singing again and again holy, holy, holy that wonderful image of God being described in the best terms Isaiah can manage the question has to be asked who is Isaiah seeing in that vision
[23:27] John chapter 12 and verse 41 John 12 and verse 41 speaking about the life and the prophecies of Isaiah says he did it all because it says Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus and then spoke about Jesus and then spoke about the wording to John chapter 12 who is Isaiah seeing in his vision he is seeing the pre-incarnate son I have interest for talking to Mormons and Jov's witnesses who don't believe that Jesus is the son of God and we don't believe that he is worthy of worship we believe that he is a created being that verse is actually still in both their Bibles John 12 and verse 41 in the New World translation the JW's use and the edited Mormon Bible that verse is still there referencing back to Isaiah one example of many where we see the fact that our saviour is eternal he goes back and back forever with the Father and the Spirit the king who was to be born in Bethlehem in these verses he will be born into time born into reality born into a real physical space he would grow up and cry like ever a baby and learn, get older the man we see and the man who is called Jesus was also as we know the eternal person of our triune God the Messiah, the one born in Bethlehem will be eternal if this is amazing for us can you imagine what it was for people hearing this in Micah's day chapter when we begin to see Jesus as the shepherd king roughly verses 3 and verse 4 but verse 3 there is a lot to say about verse 3 an awful lot to say for prophecy we can condense verse 3 down for this evening since we are dealing with Jesus and the king being predicted here but verse 3 is giving us that time frame that right now they are suffering but one will be born time is coming and he will bring many of his brothers many Jews will come and worship him that's for a prayer meeting on every day in verse 4 we see the king as shepherd we see the king as ruler the king is eternal and now we see the king as shepherd in verse 4 and he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord chapter 2 chapter 2 and verse 12 chapter 2 verse 12 the promise of God to his people
[27:21] I will surely assemble all of you oh Jacob I will gather remnant of Israel I will set them together like a sheep in a fold like a flock in its pasture and so on in chapter 2 God is saying I will be your shepherd then chapter 5 we are saying this coming king will be your shepherd again a clue showing us more than a clue a clear observation showing us this is no mere earthly king Mike is not predicting some great David a copy of David to come one day he is saying this king will do the job of God the God who promised you in chapter 2 to be your shepherd this coming king will be your shepherd in the same way and what is the result of Jesus as our shepherd those under him shall dwell secure for now shall be great to the ends of the earth there is so much to say of course of Jesus being our shepherd our final singing this morning was that wonderful Samuel no winds had out and off by heart Sam 23 it is one of these Psalms I think we sing so often we must forget and miss out what we are singing the great theme through the Old Testament is
[29:07] God would shepherd his people God would be a shepherd to his people God would look after his people God would lead his people to these green pastures of promise and hope God would look after his precious sheep here we see there is more to it than that the Messiah is going to do it reminding us this Messiah is no mere man but he will be God himself who else can be a perfect shepherd to the sheep of God but God God has promised them this great shepherd who will not fail them every other shepherd had failed them every other shepherd any other king had let them down had failed in his service to his people and his service to God but here God is saying this one who is born in Bethlehem this one who is coming this eternal king will also be your shepherd king see in Jesus' ruler we see Jesus reigning and ruling we might miss the fact of anything else in Jesus being eternal we see more of the fact that Jesus is just all powerful here we see Jesus as shepherd he is not just the eternal ruler he is not just the sovereign king of his people he is the loving shepherd of his people and because he is a shepherd of his people his people will dwell secure that shall be used as an ending they will forever dwell secure he shall now be great to the ends of the earth that's the savior we worship this evening we worship our king who rules over us we bow our heads and bow our knees to our king we bow down before the eternal reality of our savior but we also acknowledge that he is, as he says himself of a good shepherd
[31:30] Jesus is the one who is a good shepherd the one who tenderly looks after his sheep, his people he is ruler, he is the ruling king he is the eternal king he is our shepherd king and finally the first sentence of verse 5 is promise, a simple short promise which means so much to the Christians here this evening he shall be their peace this promise has been through to every believer all throughout the centuries the people who we once knew, who loved their Lord have now passed into glory this is now perfectly true for them they are resting in his perfect peace for us here just now as we work and live and go through our lives as we hear tonight as Christians then he is our peace and we know that to be true he is the one who has entered into our lives and who showed us that he is king over us but then who led us tenderly as a shepherd giving us peace what worries the Christians here have this evening what worries do you have?
[33:09] every one of us here tonight we go share in many ways the same worries Christian and non-Christian are like family worries money worries, job worries, health worries and everything else in between what's the one worry the Christians here tonight shouldn't have?
[33:29] we shouldn't worry that Jesus is our king that should be our peace that is the peace the Christians have but we can sail, we should sail with confidence but despite how I feel despite how I think this week despite how this week has gone despite how my service this week has been to Jesus despite all the many issues and concerns and worries that he has saved me that he has called me and you his own and that he is your shepherd and my shepherd that he is our perfect peace he shall be their peace when the gospel comes into our lives peace reigns again not for a second are we saying that we'll never worry again not for a second are we saying we'll never have problems again we know that's not true but we know where we are going we know of a one we trust in instead this morning we know who is our cornerstone we know of a one who is our sure foundation and if that is through of us then we should have perfect peace and all these things laying aside our own feelings and emotions important as they are but when it comes to believing
[35:02] God's word we must take God at his word take his word as what he says is being through our king is our ruler our king is eternal our king is our shepherd over his people and our king is a king who brings peace to his people that's incredible news that Christians hear this evening wonderful news for people in my custody now having seen the king in all his glory coming and rescuing his people we see now what was veiled to these people we see now in its full completion almost we've seen Jesus come we know what he did we know that he now reigns right hand of his father and we know that one day he will return there's a flip side of the situation but for the Christians all these aspects of Jesus as kingly reign are amazing for those who are not yet Christians they're not you face a Jesus who is a sovereign complete total ruler not one part of his earth not one part of his universe of all creation all belongs to him all his every part of it he's eternal he has been forever, will be forever what does the shepherd do to those who are not part of his flock those who are not part of his fold he gives them no access the good shepherd lets no one else in who is not one of his own sheep we saw a glimpse of that at the end of chapter 5 it speaks of nations but nations comprise individuals in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance on the nations that did not obey
[37:35] Jesus, who sets now brings peace but if you are as of now still outside of him we know we were all there once you have no peace with him he is not your peace he is still the God who is counting your sin against you it's a terrifying place to be a terrifying place to be there's no reason you have to stay there come and know this king who is ruler of his people come and know this king who is eternal come and know the shepherd come and know the king of all peace time is flying by my place in here is just gone in a second the longest day is gone, darker day is coming we know ourselves, this is nothing you've not heard before time is so precious, it's so short but yet you have been brought here this evening to hear the word of God and either respond to it or you don't if you do and we praise God and you will find a life transformed by him if you don't respond to the gospel this evening this is one more mark against you this is not for fun we don't say this just for the sake of it we say this because we care what we see in scripture is real that just as one day our shepherd, our king our eternal ruling king will take us home to himself one day he will come and make the distinction between his people and those who are not his people those who love him and those who don't love him those who he calls his own and those who he says he does not know but yet here we are now the excuse you have from what come into him it is meaningless it won't hold up when you have to face him come now, come now and serve this Jesus come now and see that he has done all the work for you that's better heads than that our Lord God we do come before you this evening we thank you again, we thank you for your word the wonder of it or if you give me for anything I said that was incorrect we give you praise that the power is not in the poor preachers who stand here Lord the power is in your living word and that alone we do thank you that even in these days of old you prophesied and you gave words to your prophets of becoming Messiah what he be like and what he would do we thank and give you praise that right now we know that our prayers are ascending to you because of the work of our Savior because what he has done continues to do that we know you hear of each and every prayer of your people and help us to come to sing this final item of praise to do so of hearts and minds full of worship and joy to you we ask that for those here tonight who as of yet don't know you
[41:05] Lord you would not give them sleep until they come to know you until they come to know who you are and come to serve you as their Savior and come and join the family of your people here that's all he sings in his precious name I mean let's conclude by singing these verses verses we know so well the verses which talk about our Savior Sam 72 Yea he shall live and given to him shall be of Sheba's gold when him still shall they pray and he shall daily be extolled let's join together and sing to God's grace Yea he shall live and given to him shall be of Sheba's gold when him still shall they pray and he shall daily be extolled of corn and handful in the earth on tops of mountains high with frost brush a shake like trees on lemon on the feet the city shall be flourishing our citizens above and number shall lie to the grass that grows upon the ground his name forever shall endure thus find the Son it shall men shall be blessed in him and blessed all nations shall be born now blessed being the Lord our God the God of Israel for he alone the wondrous words in glory the text said the Holy Spirit shall be blessed in him and blessed be his glorious name the whole earth let his glory fill amen so let it be
[44:56] Let's close him through We look forward to that day that day when our glory will fill the whole of your creation until that day help us to continue on in your stream this week to continue on serving you humbly going forward in your stream humbly going forward knowing you are the God of all time knowing that we worship and have been saved by the Savior who is eternal for one who will one day receive glory from all people all needs will one day bow before him or until that day comes until that great day when our Savior Jesus returns as conquering King give us a strength to carry on serving strength to carry on going even this week give us a strength to serve you and to worship you the strength to share the gospel of those who desperately need to hear it help these words in our lives these words that of hope these words of glory one day we will see all these things taking place help us be with us all these things as always the precious name of our Savior