Would you take your Bibles, please, and turn to Micah? The Old Testament, the Bible, Micah? Whose theme is that we do justice and love mercy and walk humbly with our God. He's a prophet who calls the church to the ministry of justice and compassion and truth, and that is the theme of his message. And the theme, obviously, of our church during these months of January and February is we cruise toward our mission's conference in the last week of February and the first week of March. Whether it's when helping hurt seminar or they get off your donkey curriculum or this sermon series in Micah or the story of Ruth in the evening, these are all elements of instruction and encouragement to exhortation for us to become people who are merciful and just and humble and kind. And that's not typical in our secular age. The word secular actually comes from a Latin word saculum that means a generation or an age.
It was believed by the Romans that a saculum was three generations of parents and children and grandchildren, a period it took the human race to replenish itself. And in the time of Caesar Augustus as saculum was officially declared to be 110 years. Because within 110 years, parents would have children and they would have grandchildren and they would replenish the human race and a new age would go on to replace the one that was dying. It was believed by the Romans that the gods apportioned to each people on the face of the earth a certain number of sacula. They believed that the atrascans or the Romans had been given by the gods 10 sacula. What is amazing is that's just about how long the Roman Empire lasted. Beginning with the atrascan league about 600 or 500 years before Christ and the course continuing until the fall of Rome at about 410 AD. Their belief was that in that time period, a people would run the course of its destiny be used by the gods and then it needed to be discarded. And another people taken up by the gods to accomplish their will. And so a sacula is a period of time in which we live, our time frame of moms and dads and kids and grandkids. There's nothing wrong with that frame of thinking. But the weakness is it thinks only for today. The secular mind thinks only of its own age. That's its definition. To be secular is to be temporal, to be worldly, to be thinking of the here and now. And the secular mind divorces itself quite often from what happened in the past and seldom thinks of what's going to happen beyond the lives of them at their children and grandchildren. The prophets were not secular men. They didn't believe that God had a portion to people a certain number of ages. They believed in an everlasting kingdom. It is ironic that in the Latin, when you want to talk about forever and ever, you say, in secular, secular, literally in the ages of the ages translated forever and ever. And the prophets have this wonderful time reference. We talked about this last Sunday in chapter 4 of Micah. Where he saw things both in his own age and in a messionic age yet to come, and then something he called in the latter days. In fact, in his message last week, when he talked about the mountain of the Lord, the church of Jesus Christ, he began in the latter days and moved back to the age of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, in the church, and then to his own time where he talked about now. In chapter 5, he continues, looking at this grand oracle that is enseculosaculorum, that spans all the ages, but he goes in reverse order, starting with his now, then to an age in the near future to him when the Assyrians were defeated and they were delivered from the Assyrian threat, then to the age of the Messiah and finally to the last days. He refuses to be a man caught up with just the here and now, just what's good for him and his kids and his grandkids. I remember one person said to me once, you know, pastor, in every sermon, I need something for my marriage, my children, and something to take America back for God. In other words, in every sermon, I need something about family and about my Republican politics. And I responded to this, your sister saying, you know, I can understand where you feel that that is what is relevant to you. But there's a lot more in the kingdom of God than America and Republican politics and you and your children and grandchildren. I don't think she'd like that answer very much. Obviously, they left the church. But if we talk about only the topics of our lifetime, we miss the grand story that God is telling in the Bible. When Jesus first appeared on the earth, and he began his public ministry, he said, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. If we were to say that in Latin, the secular is fulfilled. And the reign of God has come to earth. He had a much bigger picture of creation and redemption and consummation of the past and his own present in the future. And he called us to that great, great vision of something that was forever and ever. It doesn't leave out. Us and our kids and our grandkids were an integral part of that time-spanned ministry and mission. But you know, if we looked at our age, folks, and we have to be honest, I mean, that's part of being biblical. It's just be honest about ourself. If you looked at our secular age, so focused on us and our kids and our grandkids, so focused on our marriages and our families and our politics, why are all of our marriages failing at such a horrible rate? And why are our children so unhappy, so full of stress and anger and the lack of direction? What is wrong with our nation? How come we're not even prepared for retirement in a few years? All of the things that we devoted ourselves to seem to have come to naught. And the reason is we lifted them as secular people out of the context of the secular, secular law, the ageless work of God through Jesus Christ took them in our own possession to do things with that were separated from the people of the past irregardless of the people in the future. And Micah's going to tell us this morning that God is not going to do that with His kingdom. He's going to send us a critical person, one that Micah caused the ruler from Bethlehem whom we know to be the Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring all of the people all over the world in all time together in this one grand mission something that's larger than life and greater than self, something that last forever this thing called the kingdom of God. Now in this little fifth chapter, there are four paragraphs. And each one of them says something about Jesus Christ and something surprising about how God works, His kingdom work in the world in which we live in our own secular, in our own time. He talks about the ruler from Bethlehem, the deliver of Judah, the king of the nations and the judge of all mankind. Look at this first thing he says about this unique person coming into the world in chapter five, in verses one through five. He's talking of course about Jesus Christ, the ruler from Bethlehem. Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops. Siege is laid against us. With the rod, they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. But you, O Bethlehem Afrata, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me. One who's to be a ruler in Israel, who's coming forth is from old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth. Then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock and the strength of the Lord in the majesty of the name of the Lord, his God. And they shall dwell secure, for he shall be great to the ends of the earth and he shall be their peace. Notice how he begins with a little word now. Now he says there is a siege laid against Jerusalem. Michael was prophesying at a time when the catastrophic event had struck his country. In 722 BC, a king called Shalimanese was the leader of the Assyria, from Nineveh, the land that is now the country of Syria. Attacked the Holy Land, Canaan, Palestine, where the Jews lived. By that time the Jews were divided into two kingdoms, the ten northern tribes of Israel, the two southern tribes called Judah. And Shalimanese are attacked from the north, and so he came upon the ten tribes of Israel, who fought against him, but they were conquered. The capital city of Samaria, and deported their people around his kingdom. And then he went home. But about 20 years later, around the year 700 BC, he visited Palestine again. And this time he turned his attention to the southern kingdom, to Judah and to Jerusalem, where a man named Hezekiah was the king. After these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sonakirub king of Assyria came and invaded Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself. And when Hezekiah saw that Sonakir had come, and intended to fight against Jerusalem, he planned with officers and his mighty men to stop the water of the springs that were outside the city, and they helped him. A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs in the Brooks that flowed through the land, saying, why should the king of Assyria come and find much water? He set to work resolutely and build up all the wall that was broken down and raised towers upon it, and outside he built another wall, and he strengthened the Milo in the city of David. He also gave weapons and shields and abundance, and set combat commanders over the people, and gathered them together in the square at the gate of the city and spoke encouragingly to them, and said, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismay before the king of Assyria, and all the whore that is with him for there are more with us than are with him. With him is only an army of flesh with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles, and the people to confidence from the word of Hezekiah, the king of Judah. Who gave him that confidence? You were two men, Isaiah and Micah, who prophesied side by side to strengthen young King Assychiah, godly man, and to call the people to repentance and revived faith. In the context of chapter five, Micah speaks about the siege of the Assyrians. Now muster your troops, O'Dorterf troops. Siege is laid against us with a rod. They strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. With an insulting blow, they struck Hezekiah. The Bible tells us in second Kings that Hezekiah first sought to buy favor with Synachryb, and he went to the temple of both his palace and of the house of the Lord, and he took all the gold and silver, and he gave it to the king of Assyria and said, now will this make you go away? And the king of Assyria said, no. Greater are the gods who with us than the god of your house, and he stood outside Jerusalem, and he blasphemed the Lord God and embarrassed Hezekiah, and the people saw it. And in this desperate hour of both fear and humiliation, Micah points Judah's face toward the future and a greater ruler than Hezekiah. But you, O Bethlehem Afratha, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me. One who is to be ruler in Israel, who's coming forth as from the old, from ancient days. Here is one of the clear messionic prophecies of the Old Testament about Jesus Christ. We know that to be true, because in Matthew's nativity story, where he tells about the birth of Christ, he talks about these wise men, the Magi, who come looking for the king of the Jews, a Messiah, and Herod, who was concerned about that, asks his scribes, where will they find the Messiah? And they told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for it is written by the prophets, and you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. He quotes Micah, chapter five, verse two, to point to the Messiah, who will be born. This same prophecy is alluded to in John chapter seven, has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was. It's an amazing prophecy. From you shall come forth a ruler, but notice how this prophecy begins, begins with little word but. But you, O Bethlehem of Ratha, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me, one who is to be the ruler of Israel. Bethlehem was not a major city. It's amazing that when Micah, in the first chapter, mentions all the fortified cities of the southern kingdom, he does not mention Bethlehem. It's not mentioned in any of the great list of the key cities in any passage of the Old Testament. In fact, Bethlehem only shows up in two places in the story of Ruth and here. It was a little village, six and a half miles south by southeast of Jerusalem. City where a guy named David, a shepherd boy was born. And there was nothing impressive about it, except that the one born in it, who would be the son of David, would be a ruler for all the world to marvel at. Isaiah says, there shall come forth from the chute and stump of Jesse, a branch from his roots that shall bear fruit. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon and the spirit of wisdom and understanding, spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord and he shall not judge by what his eyes sees or decides to speak to us by what he hears, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. In all of the holy mountain, they will not hurt or destroy. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord and the waters covered the sea. And in that day, that root of Jesse who shall stand as a sign for the people, of him shall the nations inquire and his resting place shall be glorious for all people. Isaiah is saying the same thing that Micah is saying. He's saying that in this insignificant little town shall be born the king of kings and the Lord of lords, the ruler of the whole earth, beginning with the ruler of Israel, Jesus Christ, the king of the Jews. This is always my friends, always the way of God. He always begins with something tiny, something insignificant, something that's too little to be noticed. He picks a virgin's boy and a carpenter's son to be the savior of the world. He picks the want of the litter David to be the great champion of Israel. He picks an insignificant people that Jews to be his chosen people. He would tell them in the book of Deuteronomy, you are a people holy to the Lord. The Lord your God chose you to be a people for his own treasure possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. But it was not because you were more in number or more mighty than all the other nations that the Lord your God set his love on you and chose you. But because the Lord loves you and keeps the oath that he swore to his father even though you were the least among the nations of the earth. What does Mary sing in a great magnificent? When she knows that she has in her womb the savior of the world, he has lifted up the humble and he has brought down low the mighty, a divine reversal. God always works in this sort of way. Jesus would tell these parables about the kingdom of God. Shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like a tiny seed, a mustard seed, the smallest seed in the garden. But when it's planted it grows up to be a large street and all the birds of the heaven nest within it. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, a little piece of which a woman takes and puts in the dough and it rises and spreads through all of the loaf. Shall what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like a seed growing silently. It is planted and it grows and no one knows how but then the sprout and then the ear and then the grain until it comes to harvest. God always takes little things, a crucified servant to become the glorified redeemer. And that is what Micah is pointing to. But now you, O Bethlehem of Faratha, who are too little to be significant, from you shall come this great ruler of the nations. This one that Daniel called the son of man whose kingdom will have no end, who is also the son of David, a Messianic title, the son of Mary, a human being who is the son of God in human flesh. If you looked at Jesus Christ, if Jesus Christ were to walk in here today as he walked upon the face of the earth when he was alive and Bethlehem and Nazareth and other places, there would be nothing impressive about him. In fact, you would say, who is this homely man, this poor carpenter fellow who's deeply religious? Who is he? Little would we know that he is the Messianic king. Described here as the ruler of a great kingdom and a shepherd who will guide his people home to heaven. Don't miss this. Don't miss what he says in verse three. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. He would give Israel up into the captivity of the Babylonian empire until a time when it bring them back, until Israel was in labor and great angst and pain while all of this invasion of Syria and this captivity in Babylon was taking place. He would give them up for a season until he would bring them back and place within them another woman who would be in labor. This time a girl from Nazareth named Mary in labor with a little boy who would be this man from Bethlehem, this ruler of the nations. God has given his people up, it appears, throughout all the world to suffer for the Lord. Look how the church of Jesus Christ appears so weak and fragile everywhere it is. So despised by the nations of the earth so persecuted in most places and the secular mind, probably the most boring, stupid thing a person could ever do was the ways there time in this God forsaken people called the church and yet that is exactly the people that Jesus Christ is using to bring about his earthly kingdom to the very ends of the earth. Now this is the first truth I want you to see. Something the secular mind refuses to acknowledge that Jesus Christ seldom uses the great and the grand and the glorious to accomplish its purposes. It's not the biggest church in the country. Not the one that's on the front page of all the newspapers, not the one with the celebrity pastors. It's not the people who are the richest, are the sharpest, are the most politically powerful. It's not with might, with army or money that Jesus Christ does his work, but with little people like you and me. That is truth number one. If you judge what God is doing only by the spirit of the age, by the succulum or by the values of the world, you will miss Jesus Christ and what he is doing in his kingdom. If you judge, if you judge Jesus Christ in his church by the standard of this age, you will miss what God is doing through him in the world. You'll miss it completely because you'll see it with eyes of the world rather than with eyes of faith. And what is he doing? He's bringing deliverance. That's the second thing that Micah talks about. This Jesus Christ, the ruler of Israel, is also Jesus Christ, the deliverer of his people. Look in verse five. When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then he will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men. They shall shepherd the land of Assyrian with the sword and the land of nibbrod at its entrance. And he shall deliver them from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and treads within our border. Now, we all know this story. One of the most famous stories in the Old Testament that Sonakrab and his army came and they taunted Hezekiah and Micah and Isaiah and the rulers of Israel and they said, you know, what other God has been able to stand against us? And Isaiah said, you know, you shouldn't blaspheme the Lord. And Sonakrab said, your God is no God to me. And so Hezekiah went into the temple and he laid down this letter, these dictates of complete and unconditional surrender from Sonakrab and he laid it down before the Lord and he got on his face and he prayed and the Lord said, do not fear this very night,
the Lord will give deliverance. And the Bible tells us and that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when the people arose early in the morning, behold all that were there were dead bodies. God in one night with the angel of the Lord gave a mighty deliverance. We know that the angel of the Lord is another way of talking about the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ the second person of the Trinity, the presence that was with Israel all through her history. Jesus Christ went out in one night and struck down the Assyrians. When the Assyrians come into our land and tread upon our palaces, then He will give deliverance to His people. Now people say, well, who are these seven shepherds and these eight rulers that will come alongside Jesus Christ? And you know, we don't know. Some people think that they're referring to eight different rulers over the Jewish people until Christ came. The Assyrians, the Persians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Thalamaic, the Celia said, the Roman, the Herodian, but probably not. They're probably just numbers used poetically. As one commentator said, these seven shepherds and eight leaders are not taken literally. This is a Hebrew literary device to indicate that an indefinite yet adequate number of leaders will be raised up over time to assist the Messiah in His work and to overthrow the Assyrians. But it will be the Messiah, the one reference to He who will give deliverance to His people. And do time the Messiah would come to deliver His people as Christ did on Calvary. In the fullness of time, Scripture says, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the loan. What did He do? He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son where we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. Jesus Christ is in the deliverance business. That's why He came to earth. That's why He continues the rule from heaven, His church, and to spread it throughout the world. That is truth, number true, that the secular mind always misses. Jesus Christ did not come here, just to make sure that my marriage was great and my kids were happy and my grandchildren had a secure financial future. He came here to deliver microsts and His succulum from sin. He came to save me from the man I had become, to save me from the future I was building for myself one of destruction. That is truth, number two. God's deliverance through Jesus Christ where their spiritual or temporal always comes in due time. It doesn't look like it. It looks like things are hopelessly going against God, but that is not true, folks. If we were able to step back, if we were just granted for one half of a minute, 30 seconds, the eyes of the Holy Spirit to see all of the not millions but billions of people around the world who are coming to Jesus Christ, who are entering by faith into His kingdom, there would be no doubt in our minds who was winning this great contest for the hearts and minds of mankind. No doubt in our mind who was bringing deliverance? But if we're only looking at us and our kids and our grandkids, our little frame of reference and our little 110 years, we missed the whole picture. We missed this great and blessed deliverance that God is bringing through Jesus Christ. And when does He give that deliverance in due time? And when is that due time? When it's necessary to advance His kingdom to the next level, that's the third thing, Michael tells us that this one is also the King of the nations who spreading His kingdom worldwide, verse seven. Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples. Like due from the Lord, like showers on the grass which delay not for a man, nor wait for the children of man. The remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations in the midst of many peoples. Like a lion among the beast of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which when it goes through, treads down and tears and pieces and there was none to deliver. Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries. And all your enemies shall be cut off. Now here, for a second time in two chapters, Michael mentions the remnant. He mentioned them over in chapter four. And that day I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away and those who I have afflicted and the lame I will make a remnant. And those cast off a strong nation. And the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore. So here's this remnant, this mustard seed, this little bit of leaven, this tiny start to a kingdom. And now, Michael says, this remnant of Israel, this remnant called the church, is growing throughout the world, like 11, quietly, silently spreading through everything. Like a seed that's growing up to give shelter to all the people of the earth. It is growing in leaps and bounds to the one who has eyes to see it. It's growing in an amazing way and it's blessing people. Micah says that this remnant will spread through the world like dew that falls upon the earth. He borrows that idea, by the way, from a psalm, psalm 110, it talks about the Lord's people being like the dew that spreads upon the ground. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord sent forth from Zion, your mighty scepter, rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power and hold a garments from the womb of the morning. The dew of your youth will come forth and be yours. The dew refreshes the earth. It comes upon the earth and blesses it every morning and it covers the earth. There's no human being that can hold it back. Micah says, and then that can make it fall when he wants. It comes in spite of men to bless men and it spreads across the whole earth. This psalm 110 that Micah is referencing which is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament. It talks about the kingdom of Jesus Christ and all of the people rallying to him. He says like the dew of your youth that covers the whole earth. If we were to go from the north to the south, from the east to the west, we would not find a place that did not have the people of Jesus Christ there and not just there, but growing, multiplying, spreading themselves around to be two things, Micah says, a blessing and a judgment, a blessing in the gospel refreshment they offer to people like the dew that comes upon a parched and weary land. And like a lion that grows through the nations tearing up the prey, bringing a judgment upon those. How do we do that by preaching the gospel? For some, it is the refreshment of the Lord as they turn in faith to Jesus Christ for others. It is the judgment of God as they reject it and we'd be held accountable for that decision on the great day of the Lord. But the people of the Lord are moving through the earth blessing worldwide in a corrective judgment and a corrective course called the good news, calling people out of their secular age and into this timeless and eternal and worldwide kingdom. And this is the third thing that Micah wants us to see, that the church we often despise, that we often say is boring, that we often want to critique. I don't know, I'm 65 years old almost and I don't know of a time in my six and a half decades where the church of Jesus Christ has been so criticized and held in such low esteem by the people of the church, as well as the world. And yet I want to tell you something, the church of Jesus Christ is the apple of God's eye. It's his wife. It's the bride of Jesus Christ and he loves her dearly. You may think she's boring, but Jesus Christ says she's the source of my joy. And you may be embarrassed by her, but God is proud of her. And you may say, well, she's dangerous to people. God says, you know, my Holy Spirit is going to spread her around the world. This church that we often get embarrassed by, that we say is dead, even dangerous to others, is really God's remedy for a suffering world. A world dying of spiritual thirst that needs the do of the gospel. A world being devoured by wolves that need the lion of Judah to rescue them out of the jaws of destruction. A world that can see only its own frustrating and failing time that needs a remnant to say in secular secular. Forever and ever, God reigns in us and through us in this world. And that worldwide church is preparing the world for one single day, one day, the day that judgment is coming.
For here is the fourth picture Michael gives of this Messiah, he is the judge of the nations. We call him an avenger in verse 10. And in that day declares the Lord and that day, meaning the day of the Lord's return and the future. In that day, I will cut off your horses from among you and will destroy your chariots. And I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds. And I will cut off your sorceries from your hand. And you shall have no more tellers of fortunes. And I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you. You shall bow down no more to the work of your hands. And I will root out all your ashrah and your images from among you and destroy your cities. And in anger and wrath, I will execute vengeance on the nations that did not obey. In that day, God is moving the world towards that day. Now listen, we'd like to hear about God's judgment. Who does? But God says that his judgments come in two waves. They are remedial judgments where God works in individuals and then families and churches and communities and even nations to bring them to the point he says where they forsake their sorcery and they give up their idols and they put them their weapons of violence and they forsake all their evil things. And they enter willingly into the kingdom of God through embracing Christ in the gospel. These remedial judgments, soft and up souls and make them willing to receive Christ. God was hard on me as a young man when I was unconverted for one reason to force me to look beyond my-