Majestic Shepherd

Micah 5:1-15

Before we begin let’s pray and ask God not only to allow us to hear His message but to inscribe it on our hearts and memory so that we can by faith persevere in this world until He returns and sets all things right on earth again as they are in heaven.

Today we will continue our series in the book of Micah.  As you will remember in Chapter 1, Micah, speaking the words of the Lord, pronounces the coming destruction and laments that it is to be. In Chapters 2 and 3, Micah explains further the reasons for the coming destruction; in Chapter 2 the focus is on the acts of the people, on the Israelite society, and in Chapter 3 the focus is primarily on the actions of the leaders of the people. The foretold destruction did come to pass; first, the northern kingdom (Israel) fell to the Assyrians, and later, the southern kingdom (Judah) fell to the Babylonians.  In chapter 4 Micah prophesied of the coming Kingdom and as Carl mentioned the Kingdom of God is coming, but the Kingdom of God is here. It is both “now” and “not yet.” It is now because Jesus lives inside of each believer and it is not yet because His second coming will be on the clouds to reign on earth as He does in heaven. Today we are going to look at chapter 5 where the focus is on the return of "Majestic Shepherd" whose place of birth and whose future majestic reign and greatness and whose inevitable vengeance in Anger and wrath the prophet Micah was foretelling. We begin with Micah 5:1:

Micah 5

¹     Marshal your troops, O 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.”

Here the prophet foretells of the place of the Ruler of Israel whose origins are from eternity past.

Over 700 years later when King Herod asked the chief priests and the scribes to search where the Christ was to be born, they said in Bethlehem and quoted this verse from the prophet Micah: "He was to be from ancient of times."

Israel’s prayer: Then Israel blessed Joseph and said,

     “May the God before whom my fathers

       Abraham and Isaac walked,

     the God who has been my shepherd

       all my life to this day,

      the Angel who has delivered me from all harm

       —may he bless these boys.

     May they be called by my name

       and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,

     and may they increase greatly

       upon the earth.” Genesis 48:15-16 

Note: Israel was 147 years old when he blessed Joseph’s two sons (Ephraim and Manasseh).

Notice also that Israel said that they would be called by my name (i.e., Israel)

In Exodus 1:8-9, we read, “Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. ⁹“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. ¹⁰Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

Back to Micah 5:3

 ³Therefore Israel will be abandoned (the NASB translated this as He will give them up)

       until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return

       to join the Israelites.

(I think in this last part of verse 3, Micah is foretelling of the Great Tribulation period that Israel is going to be made to pass through.  After that then the remnant of Israel will return and the Jews will be re-gathered from their worldwide dispersion.)

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.

Micah 5:4

(This seems like and obvious reference to what the Apostle John’s vision spoken of in Revelation 1:7 “Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.” and also the Apostle Paul revelation of the second coming of the Lord recorded in Thessalonians in I Thess. 4:16 -17 states “for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God and the Dead in Christ will rise first and we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”)

Micah 5:5

⁵        And He will be their peace.  (He referring to the shepherd and the word “their” referring to the sons of Israel)

     When the Assyrian invades our land

       and marches through our fortresses,

     we will raise against him seven shepherds,

       even eight leaders of men.

(This number of seven shepherds and eight leaders denotes the completeness of the number of leaders just as it states in Proverbs 6:16 “There are six things that the Lord hates, yes even seven that are an abomination to Him.”)

Micah 5:6 

⁶     They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword,

       the land of Nimrod with drawn sword.

There is only one passage in the Bible that describes where the land of Nimrod is located and it is found in Genesis Chapter 10 verses 8 through 12.  This passage reads as follows:

“Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.” The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.” Genesis 10:8-12 

In order to put things into perspective on the size of Israel and the size of Assyria, I have a picture comparing Israel’s size to the small state of New Jersey.  These maps are drawn to the same scale and New Jersey is shown in Yellow and Israel is shown in Blue.  As you can see area of Israel today is only slightly larger than New Jersey.  And as you can see from the other map the combined area of Nineveh and Babylon and Assyria are huge in comparison and Israel has never really ruled this land.  This third map is the land of Israel that the 12 tribes of Israel captured after they left Egypt and entered into the promise land.  Even it does not reach as far as Nineveh and Babylon.  Also this verse goes on to say:

     He will deliver us from the Assyrian

       when he invades our land

       and marches into our borders.

Micah 5:6

Clearly this is not in reference to the Six Day Arab–Israeli War, which was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt (known at the time as the United Arab Republic), Jordan, and Syria. The war began on June 5 with Israel launching surprise strikes against Egyptian air-fields in response to the mobilization of Egyptian forces on the Israeli border.  This attack took place before their enemies crossed their border.

However, this verse could be in reference to the Yom Kippur War but I don’t think so.  The Yom Kippur War also known as the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, was a war fought by the coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel from October 6th to 25th, 1973 since Israel’s enemies did cross the border first that time.  For those of you that are not familiar with this war, the Yom Kippur War began when the Arab coalition launched a joint surprise attack on Israeli positions in the Israeli-occupied territories on Yom Kippur. The day of Yom Kippur also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people. Its central themes are atonement and repentance.

I don’t think this prophesy of Micah’s applies to the Yom Kippur war is because of the next three verses.

⁷     The remnant of Jacob will be

       in the midst of many peoples

     like dew from the LORD,

       like showers on the grass,

     which do not wait for man

       or linger for mankind.

⁸     The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations,

       in the midst of many peoples,

     like a lion among the beasts of the forest,

       like a young lion among flocks of sheep,

     which mauls and mangles as it goes,

       and no one can rescue.

⁹     Your hand will be lifted up in triumph over your enemies,

       and all your foes will be destroyed.

Micah 5:7-9

It is obvious that all of Israel’s enemies have not been destroyed and they are to this day in a constant state of fear of being invaded by these same enemies and also the Muslim terrorist as well as most if not all of the Muslim world.  If you look a map as of October 2012 we see that this is a vast land area.

This verse says that Israel’s hand will be lifted up in triumph over their enemies but I don’t think that the triumph of this magnitude will be brought about by their own military might.  If you have ever been to a sports event where your team was losing and miraculously your team came back and won at the last minute you probably did what everyone else did that was rooting for your team did (i.e., raise your hands up in triumph and screamed at the top of your lungs.) 

To further support this position that this deliverance was not brought about by their own hand, Micah goes on in the next verse to prophesy that Israel’s military might will be destroyed by the Lord.

¹⁰   “In that day,” declares the LORD,

     “I will destroy your horses from among you

       and demolish your chariots.

Micah 5:10

Notices how Micah says “In that day” and not “In those days”. 

In the day when all of Israel’s enemies are destroyed and they lift up their hands in triumph the Lord will repay Israel for their disobedience.

Why would the Lord destroy Israel’s military might?

Psalm 20 verse 7 says:

 “Some boast in chariots and some in horses,

But we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God.”

Thus the Lord is going to eliminate any kind of hope of deliverance that Israel could have or boast in except Himself.

The Lord goes on to say that He is not only going to destroy their military might but also their cities and their strongholds that they put their trust in instead of their God.

¹¹   I will destroy the cities of your land

       and tear down all your strongholds.

Micah 5:11

As you might have guessed with all the Harry Potter Books and Harry Potter Movies out and all of the TV productions of series like Grimm, Vampire Diaries and Witches of East End based on Werewolves, Vampires and Witchcraft there is resumption in the world of witchcraft and the demonic world of the occult.

The Lord goes on to say that He will end that also:

Micah 5:12-14:

¹²   I will destroy your witchcraft

       and you will no longer cast spells.

¹³   I will destroy your carved images

and your sacred stones from among you;

you will no longer bow down

to the work of your hands.

¹⁴   I will uproot from among you your Asherah poles

and demolish your cities.

Clearly, the nation of Israel will be punished for all of the evil that they were responsible for.  Based on the next verse not only the nation of Israel but all the nations of the world will be punished for not obeying Him. 

^{Micah 5:15}

¹⁵   I will take vengeance in anger and wrath

upon the nations that have not obeyed Me

So what is the take away here for us?  Shall we live in fear of the coming Day Of The Lord?  By all means the answer to that question is “Absolutely Not!”.  As I have told you in past sermons these prophesies are not meant to frighten us (the sheep) but to give fair warning to Satan and his demons that want to devour the Adopted Children Of God.

We as sheep should rejoice that our Shepherd and our King is coming and we should fix our hope on Him and Him alone and look for deliverance from no one else.  So let’s take a look at what our Shepherd and King is like.  I have made a list of 10 Character Qualities of a Good Shepherd as you will see Jesus fulfills them all.

    10 Character Qualities Of The Good Shepherd

1.       He loves His sheep.  We are not smart (in comparison to Jesus we are very, very ignorant to say the least), we are forgetful, we get off track so easily and compared to the strength of our enemy we are defenseless with the exception of one thing we have a Shepherd who loves us and will protect us from all evil.
2.       He is not afraid of danger.  He was not afraid to face Satan in the dessert.  He was not afraid to face the Pharisees, He was not afraid to face the Roman soldiers that arrested Him, He was not afraid to face Herod, He was not afraid to face Pontius Pilot and He was not afraid to face the cross.
3.       He is strong enough to do all of the work alone but prefers to work with other shepherds.  Don’t be deceived that the Lord needs your help because He does not need your help or my help or anyone’s help.  He could do it all alone.  However, He prefers to work with others and allow them to share in His reward.
4.       He works hard without any need of supervision.  The Lord Jesus is at work from the beginning of time until now 24/7 with the only exception of the seventh day of creation when He rested.  He did not rest because He was tired remember He said that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. (Ref. Mark 2:27)  We need supervision or else we might get distracted or lazy and not do the work that we get paid to do by our employer.  He doesn’t need any supervision because He always does the will of His Father in heaven.
5.       He believes each sheep is worth dying for and He is willing to lay aside His life for each sheep individually as well as for the whole flock collectively.  He said “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. (Ref. John 15:13-14)
6.       He is vigilant to watch over, feed, guide and protect His sheep both day and night. Jesus said “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.) (Ref. Matthew 28:20)
7.       His voice is recognized by the sheep when He calls them and when they hear Him call they are more than willing to come to Him.  Jesus said “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (Ref. John 10 :27)
8.        He is willing to care for and carry (if necessary) an injured sheep.  “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. (Ref. Isaiah 46:3) _
9.       He has never lost a sheep. Jesus Himself said to the Father “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.” (Ref. John 17:12) David Prayed “The Lord is the strength of His People a fortress of salvation for His anointed one.  Be their shepherd and carry them forever.”( Ref. Psalm 28:9)
10.         He is able to train others to be good shepherds like Himself.  A student is not above his Teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. (Ref. Luke 6:40).