Micah chapter 5, I'll pick up reading in verse 2. Verse 1, more than likely, or probably goes better with chapter 4, sets a contrast between the siege of Jerusalem at the time of King Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar with the coming of Christ. So we're going to look at 5.2 to 5 this morning. I do want to read, however, the entire chapter.

So here now, the word of the living God, Micah 5.2. 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. Therefore, he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth. Then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel, and he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord, his God.

And they shall abide, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and this one shall be peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land, and when he treads in our palaces, then we will rise against him, seven shepherds and eight princely men. They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria and the land of Nimrod at its entrances. Thus, he shall deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and when he treads within our borders.

Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass that tarry for no man nor wait for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many peoples. like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, who, if he passes through, both treads down and tears in pieces, and none can deliver. Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off. And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that I will cut off your horses from your midst and destroy your chariots.

I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds. I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no soothsayers. Your carved images I will also cut off, and your sacred pillars from your midst. You shall no more worship the work of your hands.

I will pluck your wooden images from your midst. Thus, I will destroy your cities, and I will execute vengeance and anger and fury on the nations that have not heard. Amen. Well, let us pray.

Father, we thank you for the prophet Micah. We thank you for all of the prophets and the apostles. We thank you for the entirety of your word. And we pray that even now you would give us ears to hear, hearts to receive your truth.

Again, Father, forgive us from sin's darkening influence in our hearts and minds. We pray for the power of the Spirit to illumine us. We pray for the power of the Spirit to teach us and to guide us. And may he cause us to see how wonderful our gracious Savior is.

May we see Micah's Lord Jesus as he's prophesied here in all of his glory and in all of his majesty. And we pray in Christ's name. Amen.

Introduction

Well, I want to read a brief portion of a sermon by C.H. Spurgeon. He actually preached Micah chapter five, verse two, about 155 years ago. He preached this on December 23rd, 1855.

And he introduced the sermon on this text with the following words. He said, this is the season of the year when, whether we wish it or not, we are compelled to think of the birth of Christ. I hold it to be one of the greatest absurdities under heaven to think that there is any religion in keeping Christmas Day. There are no probabilities whatever that our Savior Jesus Christ was born on that day, and the observance of it is purely of popish origin.

Doubtless those who are Catholics have a right to hallow it, but I do not see how consistent Protestants can account it in the least sacred. I wish there were ten or a dozen Christmas days in the year, for there is work enough in the world, and a little more rest would not hurt laboring people. Christmas Day is really a boon to us, particularly as it enables us to assemble round the family hearth and meet our friends once more. Still, although we do not fall exactly in the track of other people, I see no harm in thinking of the incarnation and birth of the Lord Jesus.

Amen. Very good statement concerning this particular time of the year. I'm always reminded as we sing those hymns, we ought to be singing them all year long. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see hail the incarnate deity.

That is something that ought to cause the believer to kick up his heels and praise his savior for his majesty and his glory. Well, this morning we're going to look at this particular prophecy concerning the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Micah the prophet prophesied from probably around 737 to 690 BC, so several hundred years prior to the arrival of Jesus. Micah hailed from the southern kingdom of Judah, and he targets both Israel and Judah in his prophecy.

It's interesting because he lived at a time when he would see the fall of the northern tribe. He would learn firsthand what God's judgment and chastisement was all about. It would lend something of urgency and immediacy to his prophesying to the southern tribes. Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah, who prophesied in the south, and Hosea, who prophesied in the north.

Micah was a bit different than Amos, the prophet. Remember, Amos said that he was a sheep breeder. Amos was chosen by God out of a career that wasn't prophetic in nature. Micah was part of a class of professional prophets.

In fact, Micah's prophecy helped spare Jeremiah's life about a hundred years later. You can see that in Jeremiah 26, 17 to 19. Well, here in the prophecy up to this point, in chapter 3, Micah has indicated that the contemporary leaders of Israel were guilty. They oppressed the people.

They dishonored God. It was a time of national sin. And then in chapter 4 of the prophet, or in chapters 4 and 5 rather, he states that the coming Messiah will rule in righteousness and justice. And so having spoken something of the future exaltation of Zion in chapter 4, Micah now connects the realization of that vision with the first coming of Jesus Christ.

He does that in Micah chapter 5. at verse 2, which will be our primary text this morning. If you're looking or you're interested in the remainder of how the chapter breaks down, we have the future king of Zion indicated here in the first five verses. We see the future peace of Zion. We see the vindication of Zion and then the future purification of Zion closes down the chapter.

So not only does Jesus come, but he comes not only to justify, but to sanctify and to purify his people and to make them unto his own image. So that being the outlying chapter, the context, we're going to focus primarily this morning on the future king of Zion.

His Birth

Two particulars. First, his birth, and secondly, his reign. That's what we're looking at. First of all, his birth.

The Birthplace of the King

Notice in chapter five, verse two, it speaks of his birthplace. But you, Bethlehem, Africa. Remember that Bethlehem is the city of King David of Israel. One man, one commentator says that Jerusalem's past and future greatness originates from a cradle in Bethlehem.

I love that. Jerusalem's past and future greatness originates from a cradle in Bethlehem. David was a great king. He was born in an insignificant city.

Jesus is a greater king who was born in an insignificant city. God doesn't need the pomp and show of men. He doesn't need to have his Redeemer, his Lord Jesus, born in Jerusalem. Small, insignificant places are enough for Yahweh to fulfill His royal task.

It is enough for the Lord God Most High to show and demonstrate His majesty and His excellence and His beauty and His glory. Of course, the birth narratives in Matthew 2 and in Luke 2 and later on in John 7 refers to the fact that Jesus was indeed born. in Bethlehem, Ephrathah. It was the city of David, and therefore this is another link between David, king of Israel, and David's greater son. The New Testament makes this link often, picking up on the Davidic covenant of 2 Samuel 7.

God promised David that from his line, from his seed, there would be one who would reign over God's house forever and ever. And it's an interesting place in 2 Samuel chapter 7. Samuel, or David rather, is reflecting on the fact that he himself lives in a gorgeous house. He lives in a wonderful palace.

And he has this desire to build a house for the Lord. Because after all, at this time, God is living in a tent. And so David says to the prophet, I want to build a house for my God. And that's when God says, David, I'm going to build a house, a dynasty of you.

The whole idea being is that David is God's man for God's time, but it would be the one who came from his wife. that would reign and rule forever and ever. Matthew chapter one, verse one, introducing the very birth of our Lord Jesus links him to the two characters of redemptive history that would be most interesting to the Jews. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David and the son of Abraham. Also, we find in Acts 2, verses 30 and 31, the apostle Peter, when he's preaching on that day of Pentecost, makes that same link between David and his greater son, even Jesus.

Acts 2, 29. Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne. You see, this man, David, king of Israel, was the human source, if you will, of the coming Lord Jesus Christ.

And the apostles celebrate that. The apostles make that link over and over again in the scriptures. In Romans chapter 1, Paul the apostle is greeting the saints in Rome. He says, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, Romans 1.1, called to be an apostle. separated to the gospel of God which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.

So way back in the prophet Micah The 8th century B.C. He is telling us that Bethlehem Ephrathah would be the place from a cradle in which the redemption of Israel would come to pass.

The Godward Focus of His Coming

Notice as well in our passage in Micah 5.2 the Godward focus of the Savior. This is something we often miss. We can be a selfish people. Maybe you all can't be, but I know I certainly have it in myself.

So I survey the mass of humanity. That seems to be a recurring theme in the hearts of the sons of men. We think that Jesus only came for us. That's not the focus in the text.

Notice what it says in Micah 5, too. But you, Bethlehem, Aphrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me. Jesus is God's man. Jesus is the servant of Yahweh.

God's glory, God's majesty, God's justice, God's righteousness, God's holiness comes first in redemption. And we ought to wish it to be no other way. We ought to want Jesus to be about doing his father's will. We ought to want Jesus to always desire to serve the Lord God most high.

Walter Kaiser says to me, he was to come. In other words, the Messiah was to be, first of all, for the Lord's benefit and his plans and only secondarily in response to Israel and her distress. I think it takes on a whole different nuance when we understand the Godward focus of our redemption. Yes, we are made blessed participants, we are made beneficiaries, we benefit greatly.

But what's going on at Calvary is first and foremost the transaction between the persons of the Godhead. It is the son carrying out the will of his father. It is the son executing the terms of the covenant of redemption. It is the father engaged in the work of saving his people.

We want Jesus to serve first and foremost, the father.

Born to Rule

Notice as well what it says here. Yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel. That's his job. So it defines him.

So Christ is about, yes, he's a prophet, yes, he's a priest, but he's also a king. And I suspect at times we forget that. In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, John does not have any account whatsoever of the birth narrative. So you might wonder, does John ever talk about that?

I mean, he has that statement in John 1.14, the word became flesh and tabernacled among us. But there is this reference to the birth of Christ in John chapter 18. John chapter 18. You remember the scene.

Jesus is before Pontius Pilate. He's being asked to testify. He is on trial for his alleged crimes against the state, against Jewry. And here's what happens in chapter 18, verse 37.

Pilate therefore said to him, Are you a king then? Here's the issue. Here's the rub. Here's the big question for the day.

Are you a king then? Notice what Jesus says. You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born.

It's always amazed me. It's always made me a bit suspicious why people get religious at this time of the year. I wonder if it's that they like the baby in the manger. They like the fact that he's domestic.

They like the fact that they could pick him up. They like the fact that they could control him. We need to focus more on the fact than the reality. He was born to reign.

He was born to rule. This is what he testifies before Pontius Pilate. And for this cause, I have come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.

C.H. Spurgeon said the moment that he came on earth, he was a king. Listen to this statement. He did not wait till his majority that he might take his empire.

There's an interesting passage in Luke's gospel as well. Remember, when Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, what does Elizabeth say to Mary? She basically says, what's going on here? Why is it that the mother of my Lord should come and visit me?

Elizabeth confesses the Lordship of Jesus Christ while he is in utero, while he is in the womb. Elizabeth understood something of the prophets. She understood that that babe in the womb was her Lord. Listen to Spurgeon.

As soon as his eye greeted the sunshine, he was a king. From the moment his little hands grasped anything, they grasped a scepter. As soon as his pulse beat and blood began to flow, his heart beat royally and his pulse became an imperial measure and his blood flowed in a kingly current. He was born a king.

He came to be ruler in Israel. That's what the prophet is telling. That's what the prophet is announcing. So, in a sense, he is comforting his brethren to the north and to the south.

He is saying, we've got trials, we've got afflictions, we've got problems, we've got issues, but God the Lord has not forgot us. Yahweh is going to undertake. He will send one. He has picked Bethlehem, Africa, as insignificant as it may be.

He is going to take one from that place and exalt him and make him King of Kings and Lord of Lords, just as he did with David in Israel. That's what our prophet wants us to see. So, with reference to his birth, we learn the place. We learn his Godward focus.

But

The Eternal Nature of the King

notice, thirdly, we learn something of his nature. Notice in verse 2. He says, 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. He differs from David in this respect.

He is divine. He is deity. His goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Who is from everlasting to everlasting according to the scripture but God alone?

We are created in point and time. David, as majestic a king as he was, was created in point and time. Not so the Lord of glory. Not so our Redeemer.

Not so this one. He would be from of old, even from everlasting. The Scriptures everywhere affirms this and confirms this. In the prophet Isaiah, which is very similar.

Chapter 9, verses 6 and 7. Chapter 9, verses 6 and 7. It tells us this concerning this redeemer for unto us a child is born unto us. A son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Did you get that? Everlasting Father, Mighty God. That's what Israel was taught to look for. You know, Jews today say, well, the Messiah wasn't supposed to be deity.

Says who? Your apostate reading of your own scripture? I mean, this tells us that the coming Messiah would be eternal. This tells us that he would be mighty God.

He would be everlasting father. John Owen, the Puritan, says that the same person should be mighty God. And a child born is neither conceivable or possible, nor can be true. But by the union of the divine and human natures in the same person, Christ is one person, two natures.

Deity, humanity, the New Testament picks up this several times. John one in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. We start to consider that. We start to focus on that veiled in flesh, the Godhead see hail the incarnate deity.

Paul can say later in Colossians chapter two that in Jesus dwells all the fullness of the deity bodily. Remember, in the upper room discourse, the disciples say, show us the father. What's Christ's response? If you have seen me, you have seen the father.

The book of Revelation highlights this reality as well. He is Alpha and Omega. He is First and Last. He is God Most High.

Hebrews 13, 8, in a passage, interestingly enough, calculated simply to punctuate a series of exhortations, he says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Immutability is of God alone or it's a characteristic of God alone. He is unchangeable. That's true of Christ.

The scriptures are clear, brethren, there is one true and living God in that God had exists father, son and Holy Spirit, three persons, one substance, but three persons. And Christ is that divine redeemer. So that's his birth, the place, the focus, the nature.

His Reign

Notice, secondly, something of his reign, something of his reign. Verse three, therefore, he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth. The prophet is saying is that we're not out of the woods yet. There's still a period of distress.

There's still a season of grief. I mean, he's writing here in 700 B.C. There'd be still 700 years of this distress, this time without the Redeemer King. You think we've got it tough?

Imagine the faithful living in 700 B.C. Imagine the faithful having seen the northern tribes fall to Assyria. Imagine the faithful hearing the likes of Micah and Isaiah saying, you're going to fall to Babylon. What a test of faith that would be.

Sometimes we are such lightweights. We are so puny. We have so little faith. We've got the entirety of the Scripture.

We've got this great cloud of witnesses testifying that God is faithful and we still whine and we're still weak and we're still paralyzed and we're still anemic and we're still lethargic and we're still apathetic. Imagine these dear saints. He announces the fact that their divine king is coming. But you're going to have to wait.

Sometimes that's the way the Christian life is. Sometimes you have to wait. You may want immediate deliverance. You may want immediate victory.

You may want immediately to be zapped out of your issues and problems. You need to learn to wait. You need to learn something about patience from the people of God in the Old Testament. Look at what he says.

Therefore, he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth. This time when Jesus would come in the fullness of the times, according to Paul, God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law in the fullness of God's time. God does not react. God has not taken a vote.

God is not asking our input or our opinion. I am certain that if the prophet said, hey, can I get a show of hands? Who wants Jesus to come right now? Everybody in Judah would have been saying right here, right here, send him.

God is not reactionary. God is sovereign. God is the one who acts. God is the one who operates according to his decree.

And so he tells them that there would be this distress. There would be this trial. There would be this time, but it would come to an end. Then the remnants of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel.

Notice how he describes his reign. He shall stand and feed his flock. In the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of the Lord is God, and they shall abide. For now he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and this one shall be peace.

First of all, with reference to the nature of his reign,

He Alone Is King

he alone is king. Doesn't say that in as many words, but that's the implication. There is one king. There is one Messiah.

There is one solitary servant of the Lord. There is one who will function unto God for the good of his people. The Bible or the New Testament highlights the reality that it is Christ alone. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus.

Paul tells us in Ephesians, chapter one, that it's Jesus who's ascended to the right hand of the Father on high. He alone is king. He alone is Lord. He alone is sovereign.

He Feeds His Flock

Notice, secondly, what he does in his reign. He feeds his flock. Isn't that a great image? This royal king feeds his flock.

See, sometimes we miss that as well. What's a king supposed to do? Sit in his palace? Exercise orders?

Eat turkey legs? Drink out of goblets? Call in the fiddlers? That's our concept of monarchy, isn't it?

Throw great big $40 million weddings? That's our concept of kingship, isn't it? What's a king's primary focus? To serve.

To benefit his people. to help them, to care for them. He is not to simply call them in to fiddle before him for his amusement and his entertainment. He's to engage in policy. He's to engage in defense.

He's to engage in propagation. He's to engage in the affairs of the kingdom for the good of his subjects. It's just like politicians today, are they supposed to sit in their palaces and be fed with the tax dollars or the taxpayers money? Or are they supposed to be servants?

This is what Jesus is about. It says that he shall stand and feed his flock. It's not this king that's just being entertained. He's a king who's feeding.

He's a king who's providing. He's a king who's defending. He's a king who's protecting. He's a king who administrates the kingdom for the good of his subjects.

This is the nature of Jesus reign. We continued reading in Isaiah nine, six describes the king, verse seven describes the kingdom or the nature of his reign. Very similar passage to what we're looking at says of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice. That's what he does, what he's about.

It's how he functions. He was born to reign, and he executes that task beautifully. From that time forward, talking about the first coming, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. So the prophet Micah tells us that he feeds his flock.

This picks up the biblical imagery of Jesus as the shepherd of his people. This picks up the biblical imagery of Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

Picks up the imagery that we find in the prophet Isaiah, where God tends to the good of his people. Picks up the imagery of Jeremiah, who in a day when there were false prophets, men who were not feeding the flock. The prophet says that one of the blessings of the New Covenant, one of the blessings of New Testament religion is that the flock gets fed. Jesus tends to them.

Jesus takes care of them by his spirit, by his word in his churches. Jesus feeds his people. Jesus leads them. He cares for them.

He watches over them. He is our prophet. He is our priest. And He is our King.

We need Him to protect us. We need Him to defend us. If it wasn't for Jesus, we would be sucked in by the devil. If it wasn't for Jesus, we would be tripped up in our own sin and lust.

If it wasn't for Jesus exercising His royal rule in our lives, we'd be damned. He feeds His flock, brethren. He cares for us. He tends to us.

He's kind to us. The nature of His reign is such that He alone is King, but He is the one who feeds His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord, His God. They, the flock, shall abide. Notice that.

They shall abide. Notice that it doesn't have the glamour that we might want. We like triumph, don't we? We will triumph.

Sometimes abide. Abide is much better. Just look at your Christian life as abiding by the grace of God. That's a good thing.

That's a good thing. Think in terms of Philippians 1.6. I am confident, Paul says, of this very thing. That God who began this good work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ.

Through the triumphal times and the times of misery. Through the times of great victory and through the times of great defeat. What do I mean by defeat? Oh God, please forgive me for having committed that sin again.

Oh God, please forgive me that I was not more watchful, more careful, more faithful. We have the promise of the apostle that he is keeping us. Paul, in fact, in Romans 8, signs off this way. I am convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He keeps you. You abide because of him. You don't abide because you're better than other Christians. You don't abide because you read 15 books this year.

You don't abide because you go to Free Grace Baptist Church. You don't abide because you've memorized the Shorter Catechism or you've read Burkhaff's Systematic Theology. You abide because of this king who was born in Bethlehem, Ephrathah, this king who reigns alone and solitary unto his father, this one who feeds the flock, who cares for the flock, who tends to the flock. How does the flock respond?

They abide. They don't complain. They don't say, isn't there another way, Lord? Can't we have more fun, Lord?

Can't you razzle and dazzle us, Lord? No, the flock abides by eating the food that the shepherd provides for them.

He Will Be Great

Notice as well, he alone is king. He feeds his flock. Thirdly, he will be great. Isn't that beautiful?

For now, he shall be great. What's your view of Christ? Is it that He's great? It's the song of Solomon, say, in a description of Him.

He is altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand. Is that your view of the Redeemer? Is He great? Doesn't this sound like what the angel speaks in Luke chapter 1, verses 31 to 33?

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great. Do we talk like that about the Lord? He's great.

When the Canucks do something great, it was great. When you cook a good meal, it was great. When you do some wonderful thing, it was great. Are the Christians in the church today speaking of their Savior in such language?

He will be great. He is great. He is altogether lovely. He is chief among 10,000.

The angel goes on and says, and will be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there will be no end.

Remember when the Magi came and gave gifts to the boy, or to Jesus. Probably to the parents, obviously. Which, in a real practical sense, would have been quite helpful for them. They had a journey to make to Egypt.

They needed some bucks, didn't they? I don't mean to sound crass, but there was a real pragmatic reason for that whole situation. It wasn't to teach us that, yeah, I want a new bike on the 25th, so make sure I get one. There's a pragmatic reason, but there's a prophetic reason as well.

And it's speech to the greatness of the king. The Magi come and present these gifts to Jesus in accordance with the prophets, in accordance with the Psalter. What happens in Psalm 72? The kings of Sheba and Sheba will come and bring their gifts to this king.

Remember, the queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon and brought gifts to him. What was it for? Did Solomon need more stuff? He needed more stuff like most of us need more stuff.

Where am I going to put it all? It was to acknowledge his greatness. The prophet Isaiah speaks to this on Isaiah, chapter 60, Isaiah, chapter 60, incidentally picked up on in Revelation 21. The nations of the earth bring their glory into the New Jerusalem.

Why? To present it to the great king. The Magi are functioning prophetically here. Notice in Isaiah chapter 6, verse 3, the Gentiles shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.

It's not the Magi. They came from the east. They were not Israelites. They were Gentiles coming to the light, which was Christ and the kings to the brightness of your rising.

Notice verse five. Then you shall see and become radiant and your heart shall swell with joy because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you. The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. The multitude of camels shall cover your land.

The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah. All those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord. Notice in verse 8, Who are these who fly like a cloud and like doves to their roosts?

Surely the coastlands shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish will come first to bring your sons from afar their silver and their gold with them. To the name of the Lord your God and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you. What was that declaration when those magi presented those gifts to that babe, but to say that he's great? He's great.

He's awesome. He's worthy. The prophets foretold this. Though he was born in insignificant Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though he would have to go into exile into Egypt, this one is great.

And the glory of God is upon him. One man said, if the Queen of Sheba brought spices and gold to Solomon, how much more fitting that the royalty of Sheba and Sheba and other nations bow before the incomparable successor to Solomon and present to him such gifts. The Magi are not themselves gifts, or kings rather, but kings do well to follow their example. That's the point.

That's what's going on. It's an acknowledgment of the greatness and the glory and the majesty of our Redeemer King.

Universal Empire

Notice fourthly, with reference to the nature of his reign, he will exercise universal empire. Micah, chapter five, verse two or verse four, rather. They shall abide for now. He shall be great to the ends of the earth.

A great statement to the ends of the earth from sea to sea. He will have dominion. Isaiah the prophet chapter 11 says the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. This is found in the prophet of Bacchus.

It's found in Solomon's Psalm 72 that we saw. It's found in the prophet Zechariah. This is the backdrop, brethren, for the Great Commission. What about Psalm 2?

God the Father says to God the Son, ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. Do you think it's any accident that in the Great Commission Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations? Is that accidental? Is Jesus arrogating to himself something that doesn't belong to him?

No, the Father said, ask of me and I will give you the nations. I will give you the uttermost parts of the earth. You shall rule them with a rod of iron. That's why Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples.

The Father's already given it to me. It's already mine. It's my possession. Go out and cultivate.

Go out and preach. Go out and teach. Go out with the gospel. The church ought to focus on this and think on this and reflect upon this, that Jesus was given universal empire.

And we are to preach and to teach. We are to sing and mean it. No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.

Isn't that the movement in redemptive history? Genesis chapter three. Paradise is lost. Revelation chapter twenty one and twenty two.

Paradise is restored. Why? Because of the victory of the Lamb of God who sits upon the throne. This is what Micah 5, 2-4 is highlighting.

It is indicating. It is declaring to us. Remember, when Simeon sees the babe Christ, he takes Him in his arms and he starts to praise God. He says, Lord, now You can let Your servant depart in peace.

Why? For my eyes have seen Your salvation. He's looking at a little baby. Looking at the embodiment of salvation.

He's looking at Micah's Lord, looking at the Redeemer King. And then he says that this one is a light unto the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel. You see, Christ did not come simply to liberate one small geographic region in the Middle East. Christ came to exercise universal empire.

That's what the prophet is telling us.

He Will Be Peace

Now notice fifthly and finally with reference to his reign. He will be peace. It's not a beautiful way to end this description of the kingdom. And this one shall be peace.

The very embodiment of peace is in Christ. Just like the embodiment of salvation is Christ. Just like when Simeon could look upon that babe and say, my eyes have seen your salvation. When you look upon Christ, there's peace.

Peace is something we all want, isn't it? I have yet, in my 44 years, to meet someone who thrives in misery. I know there's some weird people out there that seem to like the particular circumstances, so they can complain about it, I guess. But nobody really likes chaos, frustration, and bad things.

We don't hit ourselves in the thumb with a hammer and say, wow, that was great. We don't lose our houses to the mortgage company. We don't lose our jobs and say, yippee. No, those things are frustrating.

We all want peace. Jesus knows this. What's He say to the disciples in the upper room? Peace I leave you.

My peace I give you. Not as the world gives. Not through whatever venture is entertaining the world right now, that peace that may last for a moment and then disappears. Jesus says, my peace, I give you not as the world is.

He is speaking as the prophet Micah foretold, this one shall be peace. The prophets throughout highlight this reality. The New Testament birth narratives highlight this reality. Luke chapter 2, verse 14.

Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Isn't that beautiful? Peace through the Prince of Peace. You know how you have to pray for the Middle East?

You know how you have to pray for these war-torn countries? You know how you ought to pray with reference to the lack and the absence of peace in various parts of the world? Yeah, foreign policy might be good, political intervention, military power. Pray for Jesus to be proclaimed.

Pray for the gospel to go forth. Because as men come to know the one who is peace, it can't help but affect us outwardly. We saw that in Hebrews 12 the other night. What happens to those who, by God's grace, have come into saving relationship?

He says, pursue peace with all men. Why? Because you can now, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. So now we can pursue peace with one another.

This one is peace. Paul picks this theme up and highlighting the fact that the Gentiles are now brought nigh through the blood of Christ in Ephesians chapter 2. And it's wonderful, the progression. He tells us that Jesus makes peace.

Jesus preaches peace. And Jesus is peace. Ephesians chapter 2, beginning in verse 14. For he himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation.

Let's just pick up in verse 11. Sorry about that. Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ. being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. What's the implication that now Gentiles are brought into the Commonwealth of Israel?

Gentiles are brought into that place of redemptive unity with their Jewish brethren. There's no Jew-Gentile distinction. There's no separate plans. It is one in Christ.

He takes two and makes one new man in him. beautiful scene, it's a beautiful image. Notice in verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances. So as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus he makes peace.

We need to reflect on that more often. We need to be at peace with one another. We can have our disagreements. We might have our little skirmishes.

We might have our matters of opinion on certain things. But in the final analysis, brother, we ought to be at peace. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus. We ought to be peaceful with one another.

Notice what he says, and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who are far off and to those who are near. For through him we both have access by one spirit to the Father. How did Jesus preach peace in Ephesus?

Through Paul. How does he feed the flock in Ephesus? Through Paul. Paul went to Ephesus.

Do you remember the scene? There was a bunch of idolaters in the city. They were worshipping Diana. Great is Diana.

There was an idol trade in place. Paul comes and he preaches. The people, in a display of repentance, take their books of magic arts and burn them. Christ preached peace through the apostolic ministry.

Christ preaches peace today. When the Bible is handled accurately, you are being fed by this King from the right hand of the Father, by His Word, by His Spirit. He is a good King. He is our Peace.

Application

Brethren, there is a description of his birth, a description of his reign. And I hope that we learn at least a few things here. The first is the wonderful incarnation of Jesus Christ. John 1.1 and John 1.14 are absolutely amazing.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He goes on to tell us that he made everything. Jesus made everything. And then he says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. You see, in the incarnation, we have something that never took place before. We have something that is unique in the redemptive religion called Christianity. We have God coming into this world, taking on our likeness, being like us in all points, except without sin.

The incarnation was a display of the glory and the majesty of our God and the great lengths that he would go to to save us from our sin. None of us were able to keep the law. None of us could die sacrificially. So God undertook.

So at this time of the year, when you are brought to consider the incarnation of Christ, you ought to praise, worship, adore, hail the incarnate deity. Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that how the gospel of Matthew is somewhat structured?

The very beginning, after the birth narrative, what do we read? His name is Immanuel, God with us. How does Matthew end? With Immanuel promising, I'll be with you, even to the end.

Isn't that a beautiful way to structure that account? Jesus, our Immanuel. Secondly, we ought to consider the gracious ministry of our shepherd, the gracious ministry of our shepherd. Jeremiah 23.

I alluded to this earlier. Jeremiah 23, verse one. Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed my people.

You have scattered my flock, driven them away and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doing, says the Lord. But I will gather the remnants of my flock out of all countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their folds, and they shall be fruitful and increased. I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking, says the Lord.

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness. A king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely. Now, this is his name by which he will be called the Lord, our righteousness.

This is telling us about new covenant redemption. This is telling us about Jesus coming to fulfill all the obligations placed upon him by his father to save us from our sins. And then as we read in Ephesians four, he ascends on high. He leads captivity captive and then he gives gifts to men.

What does he give? He gives some as apostles. He gives some as prophets. He gives some as evangelists.

He gives some as pastors and teachers. Why? So that he can feed his flock. So that he can tend to them.

So that he can care for them. The gracious ministry of our blessed shepherd is seen in the prophets. It is verified or confirmed throughout the New Testament scriptures. And then a third thing, a third implication, I think we learned from Micah, chapter five, is that we need to pray big.

We need to pray big. He's got universal empire. Never stop and think that if God saved me, he certainly can save a whole bunch of others. I know we like to think, oh yeah, I'm this wretch and all that.

But really stop and think about it. You were a God-hating rebel. You may have been five. You may have been 10.

You may have been 15. You may have been into really bad things or not so bad things. But in your heart, you were at enmity with the Lord God Most High. Right?

Not a one of us in here that can say, oh, not me, man. I always had it for Jesus. You had it all right. A raised fist, anger, rebellion, insubordination, incorrigibility, recalcitrance.

Kids go home and look up all these words because they're great. Not great. They tell us something about our human condition. And what happened?

Somewhere along the line, God snatched that stony heart out of your chest cavity and he threw it away. And then he took a fleshly heart and he planted that in there. He put his spirit in you. He put his law in you.

He put desire in you. You may say, I don't have as much desire as I'd like to have. But you got a lot more than you once had, don't you? That's what Newton said.

I'm not what I want to be. I'm not what I'm going to be, but I'm certainly not what I once was. I like that. So God saved you.

There's hope. There's hope. There's hope for peoples in North Korea. There's hope for peoples in Canada.

There's hope for peoples in the United States. There's hope for Haiti. There's hope for this world. So what I'm suggesting, brother, when you reflect on the greatness of the Redeemer, when you reflect on the fact that he has universal empire to the ends of the earth, pray big.

Isn't that what Cary said? Expect great things from God. Now again, I would be the first to qualify. Not everybody is going to go be William Cary and go be a missionary in India.

But you can pray that God will raise up a Cary. You can pray that God will raise up a Spurgeon. You can pray that God will raise up a Whitefield. Do not discount the place of prayer.

Prayer is the very machine room of all that is good and holy in this world. The prayers are the ones keeping everything going. So prayers, pray big, because He is great and He has universal empire. And if you have come here this morning out of some idea of obligation, you have come here simply to do a religious service, you have come here simply to just do something because there was nothing else going on, I call you to consider this Lord Jesus.

I call you to consider this one who Micah is describing. He alone is the Savior. He alone is the one who can forgive you of your sins. He alone is the one who can bring you into heaven.

Do not reject him. Do not despise him. Do not say no to him. Do not continue in your rebellion.

But believe the gospel. Believe the good news. Believe all that the Bible says concerning this Lord Jesus. And he will save you from your sins.

Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank you for this great one. We thank you that Bethlehem, Ephrathah was such an insignificant place on the map. From it came King David and from it came David's greater son and David's Lord, even Jesus Christ. We thank you, Father, for our Savior.

We thank you for his divinity. We thank you, Father, that he is ruler, that he is king, that he is prophet and priest. We thank you, God, that he feeds us, that he shepherds us, that he tends to us and protects us and defends us. And we thank you that he is indeed the great one whose empire is to the ends of the earth.

We just pray, most high God, that this gospel would be preached throughout the earth. that men would turn unto him and be saved. And how we thank you as well for that real practical benefit, that he is our peace, that we have peace with you, we have peace with one another, and God help us to continually pursue it with all men. And we pray that you would go with us now, watch over us in the remainder of this day, and we pray through Christ the Lord. Amen.

Scripture References

• Genesis 3
• 2 Samuel 7
• Psalm 2; 23; 72
• Isaiah 9:6-7; 11; 60:3; 60:5; 60:8
• Jeremiah 23:1; 26:17-19
• Micah 5:2-4
• Matthew 1:1; 2
• Luke 1:31-33; 2; 2:14
• John 1:1; 1:14; 7; 18; 18:37
• Acts 2:29; 2:30-31
• Romans 1:1; 8
• Ephesians 2:11; 2:13; 2:14; 4
• Philippians 1:6
• Colossians 2
• Hebrews 12; 13:8
• Revelation 21; 21-22