We're gonna look at the book
of Micah, Micah chapter five. We're still continuing to go
through Christ in the Old Testament. So we're kind of winding it down.
It's amazing when you open your Bible and you look from like
where we are, Micah chapter five is where we're gonna be. And
I'm trying to preach basically one message out of each of these
books. Some of them I preach more than one message because
there's just so much good scripture here. concerning a prophecy of
Christ and the doctrine of Christ, the glory of his person, the
power of his finished work. But if you pick up the pages
here in your Bible, that's the rest of the Old Testament. It's
pretty thin. Of course, some of these books are short, so
we don't have a whole lot more to go, and then we'll start a
new study after we finish Christ in the Old Testament. But today
I want to talk to you about Christ, the Messiah King of Israel. And
this is a very familiar passage to most of us. And usually it's
one that is talked about around the holidays, Christmas holidays
and stuff. But it's a prophecy. Now Micah,
he was a prophet in Judah. And he prophesied through the
reign of several kings, just like Isaiah. He was a contemporary
of Isaiah. And so he prophesied in Judah. And just to give you an idea,
Hosea and Amos, they prophesied in the northern kingdom of Israel.
So all of this, you see the historical concept of it. You know, Isaiah
spoke a lot about the impending judgment upon the northern kingdom
that would come through the Assyrian Empire, coming down to destroy
them and scatter them. And Micah speaks of that too.
Hosea spoke of it. But they also spoke of the future
punishment that would come upon the southern kingdom of Judah
through Babylon. And so in these prophets, you
see a lot of the negative concerning judgment for their sins. And they were a sinful people.
Last week when I was at 13th Street, I was sitting by Pastor
Alan Eisen in the pastor's study and they were reading scripture.
And a scripture was read about Israel coming to see the glory
of God and being obedient and the good blessings that God gave
them temporally. And after it was over, I read,
I looked at Pastor Alan Eisen, I said, Alan, I said, how long
do you think that lasted? And he just smiled and he said,
not very long, did it? Because they were a sinful people.
But we are too, aren't we? We're a sinful people. And whatever
God did for them, it was all pure, his sovereign goodness. I won't say his grace, because
grace brings salvation. Some people say, well, you could
say it was his mercy, holding back what they deserve. And that's
his forbearance. I've been working on that issue
for the next message coming up next week. But it's always a
matter of God's sovereign goodness, providence. And in salvation,
it's a matter of his sovereign mercy and grace. And so realize
that now, that what we have by way of blessings, which is all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places, and I say this all the
time, maybe y'all get tired of hearing it, I hope you don't,
I don't think you do. but we don't deserve it and we haven't
earned it. And doesn't that just, I'll say
it in a modern way, doesn't that just blow your mind? It's, you
know, to think about that. Well, Micah prophesied of the
impending judgment that was gonna come on the northern kingdom
and the impending judgment that was gonna come on Judah. You
can read about that in chapter four. for their sins and their
idolatry. And both Israel and Judah, they
failed to live up to the covenant conditions that God had imposed
upon them in the old covenant. They failed. And of course, you
know as well as I do, that's just a picture of man in sin. You know, somebody, and I think
about people like that today because when they believe that
salvation is conditioned on them, and that's the point of most
false, of all false religion, you know, that's a common thing.
They believe that salvation at some stage, in some way, to some
degree, is conditioned on them. It may be their works, it may
be their decision, which is probably the most common idol, and that
is an idol, Today, it may be their sincerity, it may be their
good intentions, all kinds of things. But if they believe that,
they have to look at the people of Israel who failed to meet
up to those conditions, and basically they have to say, well, I'm better
than those guys. Now think about that. That's
what they're saying. And what God the Holy Spirit
teaches us when he convicts us of sin is we're no better than
those guys. And if any part of this salvation were conditioned
on us, we'd be doomed forever. But they had failed to meet up
to those conditions. But Micah has a positive message,
and every prophet of God has one, because he shows the people,
or he preaches to the people, that there would be a restoration. Now, not of the northern kingdom,
that's gone when that happened. when the Assyrian army dispersed
them. But to the southern kingdom,
they were gonna be taken to Babylon, you know the story, Daniel and
Ezekiel, they were all prophets during that time. But there was
a restoration. And it would be of God. Now, I've got in your lesson
here, there'd be a restoration, not through a human king, earthly
things and promises, but the restoration had behind it, The
ultimate restoration of spiritual Israel through Christ. And the message of the prophets
was always, now don't look to Moses for your salvation. Don't
look to the temple. And you remember later on, the
temple was destroyed completely. Now they rebuilt it, but it still
wasn't the same. But it was destroyed. Don't look
to the temple. Don't look to your works. Look
to the promise of the Messiah, the anointed one, who would be
our Redeemer. And that was the message of Micah,
Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, all of them. Now God did use human means,
like for example in their temporal restoration from Babylon, he
used Cyrus, king of Persia, but it was God's work. It was all
of God. So he did use human, it's like
preaching the gospel. God uses the means of a weak
old man like me. And Jim Casey. He said, don't
look at me. And other preachers that we have.
He uses us, but it's all of him. I can't give you a new heart.
I can't even give myself a new heart. That's God's business. That's God's power, isn't it?
And that's what he does to his sheep, his elect. And so one
of the themes that runs through Micah is the theme of God's remnant. Look over and look at this in
verse 12. He says, I will, this is Micah
2 verse 12. I will surely assemble, O Jacob,
all of thee. Now, You could put a limited
application of this onto the national people of Judah, but
you can't put an eternal application on there. This is spiritual Israel. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not concerned. He said, I will
surely gather the remnant of Israel. Well, there was a remnant
of believers in the nation Israel, small remnant. Isaiah, he said
in his day, he said, except the Lord hath left us a seed, which
is a remnant, we'd be like Sodom and Gomorrah. Just everybody
gone. And so the remnant of Israel,
I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock
in the midst of their foe. They shall make great noise by
reason of the multitude of men. So there's the remnant. And there's
several other places, I listed them in your lesson here, where
you see that remnant. But let's look at chapter five. We're gonna see the remnant come
forth here. He says, now gather thyselves in troops, O daughter
of troops. He hath laid siege against us.
They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
Now what he's talking about here is the fact that he's fixing
to punish Israel for their sins. And he's gathering the troops.
And who was that troop here? It's the Assyrian Empire. He's
gonna use a heathen nation to punish his people. That's God's
business. That's God's way. And he did
the same thing later on to the people of Judah when he brought
the Medo-Persian Empire and Cyrus to deliver them from Babylon.
So God's gathering his, what he's shown us is God's gonna
bring judgment. He is a God who must bring judgment. He must be righteous. That's
what that means. And that's the problem in our
salvation. God is righteous and we're not. If God ever gave us
what we deserved or earned, it'd be damnation. And that's what
begs the question of questions. How can God, who is just and
must be just and must be righteous, how can he save sinners like
us? and still be true to himself.
And you dealt with the last week. Question, it's only by his grace
through the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, not
imputing our sins to us, imputing them to Christ and bringing him
into this world to establish the righteousness which he's
imputed to all of his people. But this remnant, would be made
up of God's elect out of Israel. But look at verse two, he says,
now here's the prophecy, and you're familiar with this, but
thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is
to be ruler in Israel, who's going, now is he talking about
an earthly king here? Look at the next line. whose
goings forth have been from old, from everlasting, and that word
from everlasting means the days of eternity. Now who's he talking
about? The only one he can be talking
about is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the living
God. And he says in verse three, therefore will he give them up
until the time that she would travaileth hath brought forth,
and then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children
of Israel. There's the remnant again. Now the remnant here is
all those whom Christ saves. Now again, don't get me wrong,
I'm not discounting, the temporal application of this, just like
if you look at Israel's deliverance from Babylon, they were brought
out of Babylon and brought back into Israel, but it was only
a remnant. Do you understand that many of them, in fact I
think most of them, stayed in Babylon? But he brought a remnant
out, but that was a picture of a greater remnant. God's elect,
chosen out of every tribe and nation before the foundation
of the world and given to Christ. This Bethlehem, you know what
Bethlehem means. Bethlehem means house of bread.
Ephratah means fruitfulness. And isn't that what Christ is
to us? He's our bread, the bread of life. And all the fruitfulness
comes from him, the vine. The reason it says Bethlehem
Ephratah, it was to distinguish it from another Bethlehem. And
you can read that in the lesson, I won't go into that. But here's
the point. And also, I've got listed here,
you can look at this later, Matthew chapter two and verse six. You
know who quoted this prophecy, is quoted? It was quoted by the
Magi, the Magi, I don't know how you pronounce. The kings,
some say three kings, some say more, it doesn't matter. But
they quoted this when they were searching for the king born in
Bethlehem. And these wise men from the east
were told that this tiny village of Bethlehem, from there would
come forth the prince of peace, the light of the world. And that's
what they said. So this is definitely, according
to the New Testament, which I believe is the best commentary you can
buy on the Old Testament, this is definitely speaking of Christ.
the Prince of Peace, who brought peace by the blood of the cross. And that's what he did. He was
born in Bethlehem. And he's the one who came forth
from old, from everlasting. He's God, manifest in the flesh. So what we see here is the glory
of his person and the power of his finished work. And in verse
three, when he came forth as the surety of his people to do
that work, to fulfill the conditions, to fulfill all righteousness.
And in verse three, this is the fruit of it. He says, therefore
will he give them up until the time that she which travail hath
brought forth, then the remnant of his brethren shall return
unto the children of Israel. God gave the children of Israel
up unto the Assyrian army. And he gave the people of Judah
up to the Babylonians for a while. But then he restored them. And
I thought about this. When we fell in Adam, and as
a result fell into a state of sin and depravity, we were born
that way, born spiritually dead. And in a sense, God gave us up
for a time to let us wander in the darkness of our sin and depravity.
Now, he never forgot us. He never condemned us. because
we were children of mercy, chosen from the beginning, given to
Christ, our surety before the foundation of the world. Our
names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life, but God gave us
up for a little time to wander in our spiritual deadness and
depravity. But then what did he do? He restored
us. He restoreth my soul, the psalmist
said. He didn't let us, he didn't give
us up completely to let us go on our way unto damnation. And
that's the grace of God. His grace is so awesome, isn't
it? Look at verse four, he says,
and he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in
the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall
abide. For now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. I
believe this speaking of the work of Christ and his resurrection.
Remember Job said that. He said, for I know that my Redeemer
liveth, that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.
And because Christ stands, we'll stand. The grave won't be able
to hold us. Oh, death, where's thy sting?
Grave, where's thy victory? Death is just a passing for the
people of God, and we'll stand. And he says in verse five, he
says, and this man shall be the peace, that's Christ, When the
Assyrians shall come into our land, God's judgment, and when
he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him
seven shepherds and eight principal men or eight princes. And I believe
that's referring to God's preachers preaching the gospel. Seven,
why seven? Because we preach a finished
work. We're not preaching a gospel of do and live. We're preaching
a gospel that it's finished. The banquet's prepared. Come
to the table and feast. Seven is the perfect work that
Christ accomplished on the cross. It's finished. It's done. And now all we have to do is
receive the blessings of it, and we do that by the grace of
God. Else we wouldn't receive it. Well, why eight? Well, eight is the number of
new beginnings. You know, this is why physical
circumcision of the males in Israel was a type of regeneration
and conversion, the new birth. And you know what day the male
babies were circumcised? The eighth day. Because that
was the new beginning. And that's what it is with us
when we're born again by the Spirit through the word of God.
That's a new beginning. That's when our life begins,
really. Spiritually speaking, because
before that what were we? Dead and trespasses and sins.
So this is God's preachers going through preaching the gospel.
Verse six says, they shall waste the land of Assyria with the
sword, the land of Nimrod and the entrances thereof. Thus shall
he deliver us from the Assyrian and when he cometh into our land
and when he treadeth within our borders. What he's talking about
there is this man shall be peace, Christ the Prince of Peace, and
nothing will hinder or stop the salvation of his people. The
Assyrian army, Nimrod, will not stop it. And that's the way it
is with us. If we're one of God's chosen
people, there is absolutely nothing that will hinder him or stop
him from bringing us into the kingdom. And that's a comfort,
isn't it? We've talked about several times
how when we were first converted, how we tried to talk to people
and we may have messed it up. And I suppose we've all done
that, you know, in our zeal, our youthful zeal. But then you realize, you know,
hey, I can't mess it up. And you know why I can't mess
it up? It's a work of God. And that's a perfect work. Now
I may learn some things about myself and learn some things
about how to deal with people throughout that process, and
that's okay. But I can't mess it up. I'm not gonna hinder one
of God's sheep coming into the fold. He's gonna bring them in,
so don't worry about that. Look at verse seven. The remnant
of Jacob, here's the remnant again. The remnant of Jacob shall
be in the midst of many people, as a do from the Lord, not just
Israel, but a remnant out of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation, as the showers upon the grass that teareth not for
man, that doesn't wait for man." In other words, God's not up
there waiting for us to do something. That's what people today are
being taught, and that God is an idol. God's waiting on you
to make your decision. God's waiting on you to do something
that he can bless this area. God's waiting on Israel to rebuild
the... God's not waiting on any of us.
In fact, the Bible tells us, wait on the Lord. And that's
faith. And so he doesn't tarry not for
man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. God's not reactionary. He's the prime mover. He's the first cause of all things. And you can argue about philosophy
and the origin of evil and all that, all you want to. But I
know what this book says, and look at verse eight. It says,
in the remnant of Jacob, there's that remnant again. shall be
among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among
the beast of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep."
And who's that referring to? The lion and the young, that's
Christ. The scepter shall not depart from Judah. He's a young
lion and he's a strong lion. And it says, the flocks of sheep,
who if he go through both, treadeth down and teareth in pieces and
none can deliver. And what he's saying there is
that he's used, and I believe there's a direct reference here
to the fact that God used his elect out of the Jewish nation
to be instrumental to bring in Gentiles. And you read the New
Testament and you see that's so. God, what did he say? I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, it's the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believe it, to the Jew first and the Greek also, the Gentile.
So verse nine says, thy hand shall be lifted up upon thine
adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. There's no
defeat here, no failure. And it shall come to pass in
that day, saith the Lord, that I will cut off thy horses out
of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots. Horses
and chariots, to them back then would be like Sherman tanks to
us. That was their power. But that's
not gonna help them. Think about Pharaoh drowning
in the Red Sea. And he says, and I will cut off
the cities of thy land, verse 11, and throw down all thy strongholds. I will cut off witchcrafts out
of thine hand, the mysticism and the false doctrines. And
he says, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers. Verse 13, thy graven images also
will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee,
and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. Dead works. Repent, that's what he says,
isn't it? That idolatry and dead works. Verse 14, I will pluck
up thy groves out of the midst of these so I will destroy thy
cities. The groves are where they took their idols and worshiped. Verse 15, and I will execute
vengeance and anger and fury upon the heathen such as they
have not heard. So the message, flee to Christ. Flee to that one who comes forth
out of Bethlehem Ephratah. That one whose goings forth have
been from old, from everlasting. For he is our hope, he is our
righteousness, and there is none other. Amen.