Our Great Shepherd
We are to live securely in God's promise
that Jesus Christ will one day
rule and reign over the entire world.
Here now is Gene Getz:
It's interesting, in between Micah's
severe statements of judgment--
prophecies of judgement--
we have here a prophecy regarding the future.
A future of the remnant in Israel
where there will be peace.
And we read about that.
I've called it "From Destruction to Restoration."
"In last days the mountain of the Lord's house
will be established at the top of the mountains
and will be raised above the hills.
Peoples will stream to it,
and many nations will come and say,"
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us about His ways
so we may walk in His paths."
For instruction will go out of Zion
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Actually, this was partially fulfilled
following Judah's seventy years in captivity.
When Cyrus issued a statement
that the children of Israel could return.
But when you read about that return--
in the book of Ezra, for example--
and what followed.
What we read here in Micah did not happen.
They returned.
They rebuilt the temple.
They rebuilt the walls.
But you never had this kind of demonstration
from the world where nations came and said:
Teach us the will of God.
Now clearly, again, you see, Micah had
a near view and he had a far view.
And that was true of a lot of the prophets.
And most of what he's saying is a far view.
When someday Jesus Christ will rule and reign
from the throne of David. And peoples, I think,
during the thousand-year reign of Christ,
will come to hear the Word of the Lord
coming from Jerusalem.
But in this context--
it's really interesting that in this context,
we have an actual statement by Micah regarding
the birth of Christ in Bethlehem.
So, we know he's projecting beyond
just that return from captivity.
And so, we read this in Micah 5:2:
Bethlehem Ephrathah,
you are small among the clans of Judah;
One will come from you to be ruler over Israel for Me. ...
Clearly, that's referring to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he makes it clear that it's
the Lord Jesus Christ when he says this,
following that statement about being ruler over Israel:
...His origin is from antiquity, from eternity.
Without beginning, without end.
This is a reference to Jesus Christ,
the eternal Son of God.
It's fascinating that when Jesus Christ
was born in Bethlehem. And prior to that birth,
there were wise men from the east.
Men who were watching what they called
was the star of Bethlehem.
And all of a sudden, they appeared
in Jerusalem and went to Herod the king.
And they said: Where is He that is
born King of the Jews? [Mt 2:2].
Can you imagine how Herod felt about that because he
was a very jealous man in the first the place.
King of the Jews.
He classified himself as
king of the Jews there in Jerusalem--
even though he was a Roman king as well.
Appointed by the emperor himself.
And so consequently, they said: Where is it?
Well, Herod really got bent out of shape.
He shared it with his other men around him
and they were bent out of shape.
They were real nervous about it.
And we read about this here Matthew in chapter 2.
The Gospel of Matthew.
So he [that is Herod] assembled all of the chief priests
and the scribes of the people and asked them
where the Messiah would be born. ...
In other words, he called in all of these
high-level leaders in Israel
who certainly understood the Old Testament.
And so, they responded:
..."In Bethlehem of Judea," they told him,
"because this is what was written by the prophet: ...
What prophet? Well, it was Micah.
And clearly, we've just referred to him.
And he goes on to quote from Micah.
That is, these religious leaders in Jerusalem
when the wise men came.
...And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the leaders of Judah:
because out of you will come a leader who will
shepherded my people Israel."
Or as Micah said: Who will rule
as the great shepherd.
The interesting thing is that when Jesus Christ
came to earth, when He began His ministry,
He went about saying this--
John chapter 10, verse 11.
"I am the good shepherd. ..."
The good shepherd.
"...The good shepherd lays down his life
for the sheep." ...
And that's something that even the apostles
couldn't understand when they were following Jesus.
They were looking forward to the king.
They were looking forward to the one who would
rule and reign from the throne of David in Jerusalem.
They didn't understand that until after
Jesus Christ was resurrected
and went back to heaven.
Because while they were waiting for Him to ascend,
they said: Jesus, are you not going to
restore the kingdom to Israel?
They're still thinking of the earthly king.
The promises of the Old Testament.
And Jesus simply responded and said:
It's not for you to know the times
or the seasons [Acts 1:7]. Go back to Jerusalem.
Go back and wait there in that upper room.
And you'll receive power
when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
And you'll be by witnesses
in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
to the uttermost parts of the earth [Acts 1:8].
This is something they had not anticipated.
In fact, it was a mystery
that was revealed to the apostles.
And to the apostle Paul.
And Paul makes reference to that
in Ephesians chapter 3, [vs 5] when he says:
The mystery was revealed to the apostles and prophets.
And of course the apostles, most of them
are also prophets, along with the apostle Paul.
And basically the message is, the mystery is,
that both Jew and Gentile will become the
people of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so, Jesus said:
"...The [good] shepherd lays down
his life for the sheep." ...
But, a little bit later there in the Gospel of John,
he said something that the apostles at first
didn't hear. He said this:
. . . "But I have other sheep..."
You see, earlier when He says,
I lay down My life for the sheep,
He's referring to the people of Israel.
He came to the Jew first.
But He also said very quickly,
I have other sheep. Who's that? Gentiles.
. . . "But I have other sheep that are not of this fold;
I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice.
Then there will be one flock,
[and] one shepherd."
And we know what happened.
We know that as a nation,
the children of Israel rejected the Messiah.
And John really encapsulates that truth
in John chapter 1, when he recorded this:
He came to His own...
Who were his own? His own people. The Jews.
...and His own people did not receive Him. ...
Jesus was indeed a Jew.
...But to all who did receive Him,
He gave them the right to be children of God...
Who's that? Both Jew and Gentile.
...to those who believe in His name,
who were born, not of blood,
or of the will of the flesh,
or of the will of man, but of God.
In other words,
this is talking about the new birth
that Jesus was explaining a little bit later
to Nicodemus, who came by night
and asked about Jesus Christ--who He really was.
And Jesus said: Nicodemus, unless you're born again...
And there He introduced us to this
whole concept of the church.
A mystery revealed
that was hidden, really, even to the prophets
in the Old Testament.
And it was not revealed until
Jesus when back to heaven in His fullness
and the Holy Spirit came and enlightened the apostles.
And Peter became the great apostle to the Jews.
And initially, he had to understand--
took him five years to understand
that Jesus came for more than just the Jews.
Until he had that vision there in Caesarea--
five years after Pentecost.
And he said: I now know
that God doesn't respect people.
He is no respecter of people [Acts 10:34].
All who believe.
All who will believe are welcome
into the kingdom of God.
And then of course, the apostle Paul,
who was persecuting Christians,
had that incredible, dramatic conversion
on the road to Damascus [Acts 9:1-9]
Became the great apostle to the Gentiles.
It's interesting that most of the time
when Paul traveled, he went into the synagogues first.
And then he spread from there.
And once the message was rejected by the Jews,
then he went out to the Gentile world and said:
All are welcome
into the family of God [Rm 15:7].
So that's the church of Jesus Christ.
We're living in that age.
And we have been living in that age
for about two thousand years.
But you see, Micah continues
because in the revelation God gave him,
he's projecting beyond us
and this period we're living in.
And he talks about the Messiah's reign.
And here's what he said. Chapter 5, verse 4:
He will stand and shepherd them
in the strength of Yahweh..."
And here, he's talking now about the great shepherd.
Not just the good shepherd that we know--
the gentle shepherd.
But the great shepherd
who will rule and who will reign:
He will stand and shepherd them
in the strength of Yahweh,
in the majestic name of Yahweh His God.
They will live securely, for then His greatness will
extend to the ends of the earth.
And that definitely--at that point in time,
we will see the promises to Abraham fulfilled.
The seed, the land, and the blessing
to the whole nation.
And here's a question for application:
In terms of Micah's prophecies regarding a future
for Israel, why is it important that we carefully
watch what is unfolding today in the Middle East?
Well, let me simply say
that I think it's very clear.
And I think that most Bible expositors--
that we may disagree in certain details--
will certainly admit that Israel
is really front-and-center in the biblical story.
It's certainly in the Old Testament
and on into the New Testament.
Because Jesus came to His own people first.
And then of course, the church was born--
all those who believe.
However, if we read the prophets,
it doesn't seem that the promises to Israel
were fulfilled in the first century.
And in the centuries to follow.
There are some Bible teachers who believe
that all the promises, basically, that are stated
to Israel in the Old Testament--
even the land promises, the people promises--
are all being fulfilled in the church of Jesus Christ.
The fact is that for me, as I read these
Old Testaments promises, it's hard to
see how all those promises are fulfilled
in the body of Jesus Christ.
It seems to me that the statements are literal.
And so, whether we agree or not
on that particular issue,
I don't think we can disagree on history
that Israel is back in their land
and became a nation in 1948
for the first time in centuries.
And all eyes today are on Israel.
What is going to happen there?
Well, I think one of things that
we need to consider is that these prophecies
that are in the Old Testament--
really, in essence, say that when they
go back to the land and
are gathered from the ends of the earth,
they'll go back in belief.
And that's not true today.
Most of Israel is secular.
Many Jews are atheistic. Or at least agnostic.
There are those, a small remnant,
who are Orthodox Jews.
There's a small group, relatively speaking,
that are believers--Messianic Jews.
But the fact is, we have not seen
the fulfillment of what someday, I believe,
is going to happen.
The days that Micah and other prophets
are talking about. When Jesus Christ then becomes
King of kings and Lord of lords.
And all nations are blessed through Him.
So whether we agree totally
on the literalness or the figurativeness
of some of this language,
one thing I think we have to acknowledge
and that is that what is happening in Israel today
is very significant.
And I believe that we need to watch carefully.
What is happening is not certainly a great
fulfillment of what is prophesied.
But I believe it's the beginning.
And I think what happens in Israel
will help us to understand that someday,
Jesus Christ, perhaps soon, will come
as He promised that He would.
First to remove the church.
And then bring tribulation on the earth--
introducing us to the millennial kingdom
of Jesus Christ where He will
rule and reign for a thousand years.
And beyond that will be the
great white throne judgment.
And finally, eternity,
where we have the new Jerusalem
coming down from heaven,
prepared for all--both Jew and Gentile.
Old Testament saints. New Testament saints.
Where we will dwell with Jesus Christ forever.
So, let's not forget this Principle.
We are to live securely in God's promise
that Jesus Christ will one day
rule and reign over the entire world.