The last thing you need is just more of the same.
Micah 5:1–5 (NIV)
5 Marshal your troops now, city of troops,
for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel’s ruler
on the cheek with a rod.
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
5 And he will be our peace...
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 10: The Deity of Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ,
according to his divine nature,
is the only Son of God—
eternally begotten,
not made nor created,
for then he would be a creature.
He is one in essence with the Father;
coeternal;
the exact image of the person of the Father
and the “reflection of his glory,”
being in all things like him.
He is the Son of God
not only from the time he assumed our nature
but from all eternity,
as the following testimonies teach us
when they are taken together.
Moses says that God “created the world”;
and John says that “all things were created by the Word,”
which he calls God.
The apostle says that “God made the world by his Son.”
He also says that “God created all things by Jesus Christ.”
And so it must follow
that he who is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ
already existed when all things were created by him.
Therefore the prophet Micah says
that his origin is “from ancient times,
from eternity.”
And the apostle says
that he has “neither beginning of days
nor end of life.”
So then,
he is the true eternal God,
the Almighty,
whom we invoke,
worship,
and serve
Summary
Micah speaks his prophecy into a hopeless situation: not only would Israel's enemies be able to taunt Israel's ruler by slapping him in the face, so to speak, but they would lay siege. A siege, where a city is surrounded and nobody gets in or out, is about as hopeless of a situation as there is. Micah is almost being a bit sarcastic here by calling to "marshal the troops." The troops have been defeated by this point, leaving nothing but a miserable countdown to starvation.
But Micah, a prophet inspired by the Holy Spirit, shines the light of hope into this hopeless situation. A Savior would, and now has come! And from Bethlehem, no less! This small and otherwise insignificant town did have a claim to fame: it it was the city of David, the greatest king Israel had and a model of the King who would come.
But this King would be very different than David. Like David, King Jesus could trace his lineage all the way back to the beginning, but unlike David, King Jesus' lineage predates the beginning. As Micah writes, "His origins are from of old, from everlasting (KJV)."
It's this King, writes Micah, hundreds of years before that still morning when the skies surrounding Bethlehem would be filled with the angelic army of heaven triumphantly singing gloria-in-excelsis-deo, that will finally bring peace.
Dig Deeper
Certainly Micah's prophecy is about much more than a particular geo-political situation in the ancient near east in which enemy armies would blockade a city. Micah here describes our situation; having been defeated by sin and now held under siege until every last drop of goodness has been squeezed out and evil triumphs. We're past the point of marshalling the troops, Micah tells us. We need an external Savior.
But it won't do us any good to find that Savior from within our own ranks. Certainly people do follow lots of different internal leaders, each time thinking that this one will be different. We try rebuilding our kingdoms by carefully constructing family, activities, careers and amassing possessions. But none of these saviors pan out. None of them leads to true and lasting peace.
But our Savior doesn't come from within. It's not that He's not part of us - He very much is, so much so that as a man He perfectly represents us. But He's different. His "origins are from old..." In other words, He's eternal.
Take confidence in that although it seems that Satan's siege is prevailing, your Savior from old will "stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God."
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who sent His Son, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times to be our King;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for the confidence to soldier on, knowing that in Christ you "will live securely as His greatness reaches the ends of the earth;"
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Hebrews 10
