The 2^nd Sunday of Advent

SERMON

Text: Micah 4:10-5:5a

Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, Like a woman in birth pangs. For now you shall go forth from the city, You shall dwell in the field, And to Babylon you shall go. There you shall be delivered; There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. Now also many nations have gathered against you, Who say, "Let her be defiled, And let our eye look upon Zion." But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, Nor do they understand His counsel; For He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; For I will make your horn iron, And I will make your hooves bronze; You shall beat in pieces many peoples; I will consecrate their gain to the Lord, And their substance to the Lord of the whole earth." Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops; He has laid siege against us; They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting."

In Christ Jesus, the coming Christ-child born in Bethlehem, dear fellow-redeemed:

In the months after Jesus’ birth, when the wisemen arrived from the East, they came to Jerusalem looking for "the King of the Jews." Herod called the scribes together and asked where the "Christ," the long-awaited "Messiah," the "King of the Jews," was to be born. The scribes answered Herod by telling him that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem of Judah, (which was about 5 miles south of Jerusalem) because that birthplace had been declared in the prophesy we have just read from Micah.

About thirty years later, Jesus called Philip to be one of His disciples. Philip went out and found Nathanael and said, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:45-46). As a faithful child of God, Nathanael knew that the Messiah would not come out of Nazareth because God had prophesied through Micah that He would come from Bethlehem.

Later, when the crowds of people began to debate who Jesus was, some said He was the Christ but others said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes form the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was? (John 7:41-42).

At first thought, a prophesy declaring the birth-town of the Savior might not seem to be quite as important as other prophesies, such as those of Isaiah telling of the virgin birth and the details of Christ’s suffering and death. However, we’ve just seen that the prophecy of the location of Christ’s birth was something the believers held in their hearts and minds. The birthplace of Christ and the prophesy of that birthplace are important because of the great things accomplished in and for little Bethlehem. O LITTLE BETHLEHEM, WHAT GREAT THINGS ARE SPOKEN OF YOU! You are I. A little town to witness great faithfulness II. A little town to bring great deliverance III. A little town to show great simplicity.

I.

Bethlehem was never really despised as a city, but neither was it ever really large or impressive (and it still isn’t today). It didn’t rank among the notable "clan cities" in Judah. (Micah’s prophesy more literally reads, “though you are little among the clans of Judah…”) Bethlehem’s name indicates that it was a fruitful village for “Bethlehem” means "house of bread" and "Ephrathah” (another name for Bethlehem) means "fruitful." Bethlehem’s "fame" is rooted Biblical history and nothing more.

It was near what would become Bethlehem where Rachel, Jacob’s beloved wife died in childbirth and was buried (Genesis 35:19/48:7). Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, was from Bethlehem as was Boaz who married Ruth. Boaz and Ruth’s great-grandson, David, was born and anointed King over Israel in Bethlehem.

The most noteworthy historic significance of Bethlehem is, of course, that Jesus was born and lived there until Herod’s anger forced Joseph to take the family to Egypt; and it was the babies of Bethlehem, 2 years old and younger, who were killed by king Herod’s wicked decree.

So, Bethlehem was little and had little worldly significance, BUT … “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel [v.2]

By connecting Bethlehem to the long-awaited Messiah and Savior—the coming Ruler in Israel—God made sleepy little Bethlehem a witness to the greatest most enduring promise ever made. Bethlehem was an important part of the promise of Salvation because of what God had said in His promise.

To better understand this, let us first go back to God’s covenant promise to Abraham. If we consider the many things that God promised to Abraham in that covenant and then put ourselves in the time of Micah and evaluate "how faithful had God been to His promise?" we see that God had been extremely faithful.

There were seven distinct things that God promised Abraham in His Covenant (Genesis 12:1ff):

1. I will make of you a great nation – by Micah’s time, ACCOMPLISHED!
2. I will bless you – ACCOMPLISHED!
3. And make your name great – ACCOMPLISHED!
4. And you shall be a blessing – ACCOMPLISHED!
5. I will bless those who bless you – ACCOMPLISHED!
6. I will curse him who curses you – ACCOMPLISHED!
7. In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed – NOT YET ACCOMPLISHED.

With the exception of sending the Messiah through whom all people would be blessed, God had done ALL that He promised Abraham. Abraham’s descendants would later lose some of these blessings for awhile because of their wickedness, but the Covenant still stood and God would fulfill the 7^th promise.

The Covenant promise to Israel began with Abraham, was carried down to Isaac, then Jacob, then Judah, then generations later to Boaz & Ruth, then Obed, then Jesse, then David. Already at the time of David everything had been fulfilled except the sending of the Messiah. To the Covenant established with Abraham and his descendants, God added these words to David: “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son.. . . And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:12-16).

God promised that from David’s family line, the Messiah—the Ruler of Israel—would come. He would establish a kingdom that would NEVER EVER END but would be the King from the bloodline of David who would rule FOREVER! God kept this promise all the way down to Mary and Joseph. Jesus’ human lineage was through Mary—a descendant of David. Jesus’ legal lineage in the eyes of the world was through his step-father, Joseph—a descendant of David. Mary and Joseph made the trip to Bethlehem because their ancestor was King David. God brought them to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. The connection between Jesus and the family of David couldn’t be made more clear! Bethlehem, therefore, stands as a witness to the faithfulness of God.

Just consider the magnitude of God’s faithfulness: From Abraham’s time to David’s time there were roughly 1100 years. God was faithful during that whole time. If we were to put this span of time into our era, it would mean God was faithful from 900 A.D. to the year 2000.

Then from the time that God made the promise made to David there was another 1000 years until Christ’s birth. Again to compare the total length of time to our own age means that God would have made that promise 100 years BEFORE Jesus was born and would still be faithful to it now at the year 2000 – a total of 2100 years! The length of the Old Testament Covenant was 2100 years and God remained faithful and unchanging in that promise throughout all that time! To maintain a promise for that length of time is a GREAT faithfulness to one’s word – God’s faithfulness to His Word.

In those 2100 years there were many ups and downs. More than once God was ready to destroy Israel in wilderness, but He remained faithful. The earthly kingdom of Israel was broken into two kingdoms because of Solomon’s wickedness, later David’s earthly throne ended altogether when Judah fell. However, 70 years later, Judah returned to their homeland—true to God’s promise—and then the Messiah was born in Bethlehem in Judah from David’s family line, the Messiah came from David’s family line.

The village of Bethlehem in Judah was tied to David’s family, tied to the promise of God—connected inseparably as a witness of God’s faithfulness.

Now WE are in a position of waiting for Christ’s second coming. It’s been 2000 years (roughly) since Jesus ascended back to heaven. When Jesus ascended He gave the promise that He would return. 2000 years is a long time and He still hasn’t come back, but that isn’t even yet as long as God’s promise endured from Abraham to Jesus’ birth. Or, to go back still further it’s no more than as half as long as the time from God’s first promise of a Savior in Eden until the time of Jesus’ birth. The delay in Jesus’ return might concern us if not for the fact that God is FAITHFUL.

Peter does warn in his second epistle: “Scoffers will come in the last days… saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water…But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come….” (2 Peter 3:3ff).

We don’t have to worry. God is faithful. When we see the Savior lying in a manger in little BETHLEHEM, we see God’s faithfulness. Jesus ascended into heaven and promised to return to judge the living and the dead and to receive His children home. He will come. Little Bethlehem testifies to that fact because it is a witness to God’s faithfulness!

II.

Many of the Old Testament prophecies are two-sided. They prophesy something in relation to the physical nation of Israel in the Old Testament, and also in relation to the spiritual kingdom of Christ – the believers of all time. Such is the case with this prophecy from Micah.

Israel would soon be on the brink of disaster. In the coming years, God would bring judgment upon them and eventually they would be carried into captivity. It would be a painful thing to leave the Promised Land, to be under the oppression of a Gentile nation – to be under the judgment of God. However, God promises: “Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, Like a woman in birth pangs. For now you shall go forth from the city, You shall dwell in the field, And to Babylon you shall go.” Israel would go to captivity in Babylon, but God continues to say that just as a woman goes through pain in childbirth, but then comes the joy of the child so likewise “you shall be delivered; There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies” [4:10]

At the time that Micah prophesied, Babylon wasn’t even a world power. It was a second rate kingdom. Assyria was the major power at the time. Looking ahead through God’s revelation, Micah was able to see that Babylon would conquer Judah and bring judgment against her, BUT God would rise up and bring rescue to His people.

Going on in our text…“Now also many nations have gathered against you, who say, ‘Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.’ [4:11] The heathen nations would come up and be proud in themselves and look upon the destruction of Judah as a great thing, but they wouldn’t know that God was using this as a tool for accomplishing His purposes. “They do not know the thoughts of the LORD, nor do they understand His counsel; for He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor.” [4:12] Babylon didn’t know what God had in mind. Babylon would serve God’s purpose and then He would bring judgment on its wickedness as well.

The Lord promised deliverance for His people. He promised that He would make Judah’s horn out of iron. A "horn" was a symbol of strength and a horn of IRON would be almighty strength because almighty God would be fighting for His people. God would give Judah hooves of bronze to trample enemies and obtain victory. All the credit—the spoils of victory—would go to the Lord. “I will consecrate their gain to the LORD, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.” [4:13]

God goes on to tell the people to rally up the troops because they would be besieged by their enemies but there WOULD BE deliverance. Would that deliverance come mighty capital city Jerusalem? No. Would it come from some other great city in the land of Judah? No. Deliverance would come from “Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel” [5:2] – HE would bring deliverance!

Out of Bethlehem….LITTLE Bethlehem, but that was God’s design. God here shifts from the physical nation of Judah who would be under siege by Babylon and promises the great Deliverer who would come to set His people – and all people – free from their sins. Even in that promise of the great Deliverer out of Bethlehem, God also promised physical deliverance back to Canaan. For if the Messiah was going to come out of David’s family line and from Bethlehem, then David’s family needed to be living in Bethlehem and not in Babylon!

God’s people didn’t always fully understand what the LORD was doing, but He promised that He would do all things well and provide deliverance. All who believed in His Word found comfort and deliverance in the faithfulness of God’s Word. In much the same way, today, we may not always understand what God is doing. We could never even comprehend how He could win salvation for us. In Isaiah, God says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:6-9).

The apostle Paul quotes another portion of Isaiah and writes, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him, but God has revealed them through His Spirit…"(1 Corinthians 2:9).

God promised deliverance. It wasn’t totally understood but it would come. The deliverance would come out of the most unlikely of places—out of little Bethlehem—but out of littleness there would come greatness because the LORD would be fighting for His people and give them FULL deliverance.

Though our natural minds cannot understand it, nor our thoughts comprehend it, that Ruler from Bethlehem has delivered US from every sin that we commit. HE has given us life in place of death.

III.

The kind of deliverance which the Lord gives through this Ruler in Israel is evident in the last few simple words of our text: “And this One shall be PEACE.” [5:5] So simple…this ONE, this Ruler, will be PEACE. He will reign and bring PEACE. This is what the angels announced on Christmas night: “Glory to God…and on earth peace goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:14). Paul writes in Ephesians, “He Himself is our peace…” (Ephesians 2:14). Isaiah prophesied that one of the Savior’s names would be “PRINCE of PEACE” (Isaiah 9:6). There are other activities in the Messiah’s rule, “…He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the LORD…they shall abide…He shall be great to the ends of the earth—He will send out His Gospel everywhere; but the crowning feature of the Messiah’s rule is PEACE! … so simple. …so wonderful.

When Israel, including Jesus’ disciples, thought of a King coming out of Bethlehem, they were looking for an earthly ruler. They wanted the trappings of a kingdom on earth until they better understood. No, this Ruler would not make a great show on earth but He would bring PEACE. He would be the Son of God humbling Himself, not being a glitzy ruler of the earth, but would come as a child in a manger in little Bethlehem.

God could have preserved David’s earthly kingdom so that when the Messiah finally came He would have been born the crown prince of a great nation on earth, but it didn’t work that way. God had David’s earthly kingdom down to a stump of Jesse and from that stump came a Living Branch to bring life. Out seemingly insignificant things God raised up our Savior.

Without the complexity of earthly things, we find the simple Gospel truth: The Son of God came to redeem sinners and give them peace with God by removing the guilt of their sins. In the simplicity of Christ’s earthly life is the GREATNESS of God’s majesty. In the ways of human thinking we are tempted to say, "I want to be GREAT. I want to do something for my life and salvation." "No," God says, "It’s simple…trust ME. I have done everything for you. Believe it! Trust Me. Trust My faithfulness. It’s just that simple."

In the simplicity of our Savior there is also potential for offense for the human nature. When Jesus went back to Nazareth the people who knew Jesus scoffed at Him and asked, "Is not this Joseph’s son, the carpenter? (cf: Mark 6:3, Luke 4:22, John 6:42). They had a hard time reconciling in their sinful minds that this simple human being (as judged by their eyes) was really their Savior. "Who does He think He is?!"

The simplicity of a Savior who came and miraculously fed over 5000 people to their satisfaction, but didn’t want to be made an earthly king…this simplicity befuddled people. In the Old Testament, Naaman didn’t want to do the simple thing of washing in the Jordan River to be healed from his leprosy. That was the way God had chosen to heal him but to Naaman it was too simple, he wanted something more complicated and showy.

Simplicity is Bethlehem, a little town 2000 years ago. People want something MORE. Give me WALLSTREET! Give me NEW YORK or LA, but to go back 2000 years to Bethlehem and a Jewish baby who was born there and laid in some manger??! You’re telling me that it has pertinence, that it matters?! I want something that I can see and put my hands on or at least put into my bank account!

God’s answer? "NO." God uses simplicity. Believe the Gospel for its humble truth as viewed by human eyes, but its glorious majesty as seen through the eyes of faith.

There are many fictional stories in which a prince or some other "well-to-do" individual hides his true identity so that someone else will value him for who he is rather than because of his standing or material wealth. God’s plan is similar. Paul wrote in our epistle reading that God uses the humanly foolish things to accomplish His wisdom so that “no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Corinthians 1:29). God told Paul that His strength was made perfect in human weakness! (cf: 2 Corinthians 12:9). Jesus didn’t want disciples following Him because of His miracles only but because of Who He is, His Word, and His greater work of salvation!

There is a real danger for sinful human beings to become ashamed and offended at the simplicity with which God often does His work. Here we are in little Mankato (yes its little and relatively unknown outside of the area as evidenced by telemarketers’ struggling to pronounce the name). If Mankato is little-known then Immanuel is seemingly less significant because this congregation is unknown by some even in our own community! A great many people who are "up" on Lutheranism have never heard of our church body the CLC. If we were big, famous, and struggle free how long would the glory remain God’s and not become our own?

We should not take pride in being small either and we do desire to extend God’s kingdom in great ways. The point is that the great things in God’s Kingdom and His purposes will always look rather foolishly simple to the world. A sinner brought into the family of God by the Gospel will never compete with a record day on the NASDAQ when it comes to the Evening News, but in that apparent smallness is the greatest thing that could ever be accomplished!

Little Bethlehem shows great simplicity. We too are simple because our message is simple: We preach Christ Crucified; but when we are that "simple" relying on the Word of God alone, just stand back and marvel at the GREAT things GOD will accomplish!