Micah 5:2-15: What do you need most?

Theological Proposition/Focus: God is the only source of true justice!

Homiletical Proposition/Application: Messiah is the only one who can fix the worlds problems. Better leaders, good deeds, charitable programs, and anything else besides Messiah will never solve the problems. We need Messiah.

Introduction:

Setting the Stage:

The book of Micah has a theme that God is bringing judgement on both the nations of Israel and Judah, but God would preserve a remnant who would eventually restore his people under the rule of Messiah. God’s justice mandates that he judge the sins of Israel and Judah, but all hope is not lost. God will restore his people and shepherd them himself.

The book of Micah

The message of Micah

Micah presents the coming Davidic/Messianic Kingdom in which even gentiles will come to worship God.

Remember that Micah's argument is that God will graciously restore Israel, not necessarily because of what Israel does, but rather because God is gracious. The source of this restoration is Messiah and so in a very real sense Micah has expressed the critical need for Messiah. The people of Israel were incapable of their own righteousness. What they needed most was God's righteousness and the only way for that to happen was Messiah. It is in this backdrop that we have Micah 5:2. I think we often believe that what we need most is to do what's right, the problem is that we are incapable of such behavior. What we need most is Christ!

Micah 5:2

So, who is this Messiah who alone can properly rule Israel and finally introduce the Gentiles to the God of the universe?

Body

We need the true shepherd to represent God (5:3).

image: Looking at the mountains from a distance.

Every year Emily and I make at least one trip to Colorado to visit our family. It is always amazing as you drive toward the mountains. At first the mountains look like just a single wall on the horizon. As you get closer a third dimension begins to take shape. Eventually you realize that this wall has depth, real depth. Two peaks that initially looked side-by-side are actually miles apart with valleys and other smaller mountains in-between. This is similar to how Old Testament prophecy works. When we read prophecy we need to understand that thousands of years can take place between two verses. That is what we are dealing with as we look at Micah 5. Micah 5:2 talked about the birth of Jesus so you might expect that Micah 5:3 would happen immediately after the birth of Jesus. In fact, that is not the case. The second half of Micah 5:3 occurs after a span of thousands of years, well at least 2000.

God is not done with Israel. - Even though Israel fell to Assyria and Judah to Babylon, Israel has not been abandoned

After the Assyrian conquest of Israel and the Babylonian conquest of Judah the nation of Israel really ceased to exist for all intents and purposes. The people were scattered across the globe. Yet Micah promises that Israel has not been abandoned, God still has a plan for Israel.

God is working toward a point when He will fully establish His Kingdom with his representative on the throne (Isaiah 9:6-7)

We fail to represent God.

Here is something that I want you to understand. One of our greatest problems is that we fail to represent God accurately.

In Isaiah 9:6-7 Isaiah records five key facts about the coming Messiah.

Wonderful - exceptional or distinguished

This could be translated as exceptional or distinguished

Counselor - wise

The idea here is one who can give wise counsel and speak with authority.

Mighty God

None other than God himself

Everlasting Father - eternal

Not a reference to the Messiah's position int he trinity but a reference to the eternality.

We need the true shepherd to care for us (5:4).

Image: The overwatch of a powerful leader

Back in 2019 Emily and I were able to visit Western China. One day we took a trip to the museum and we were both struck by a large image of Xi Jinping, the president of China, looking over the entrance to the museum. The message was clear, Xi Jinping is watching you, Xi Jinping cares about the country, Xi Jinping is there. In fact, Xi Jinping was not there, no leader can be everywhere at once. And no matter what they may say, no leader cares for you the way you really truly want to be cared for. This is a central issue in Micah. The leaders were corrupt and had abdicated their responsibility what the people needed was a true shepherd to care for them. What we need is a true shepherd to care for us.

The true shepherd stands and shepherds.

The reference to shepherding is picturesque of: feeding, leading, protecting

In other words, the true shepherd does the work of taking GOOD care of his sheep.

The true shepherd draws on the LORD for strength.

The work of the true shepherd is completely dependent on the LORD. Even the best of our leaders will often go it themselves and miss the opportunity to draw on the strength of the LORD. The true shepherd draws strength from God, is enabled by God.

The true shepherd fully submits to God the Father.

Here we see that the true shepherd works in the majesty of the Lord and name of the Lord

In the majesty - authority and power of the Lord. The true shepherd is not just empowered by God but actually possess the very majesty of God. This is not your everyday world leader, this is something special. In the name - as the manifestation and true representative of the LORD.

The true shepherd has a special intimate relationship with God and is able to truly call God his God.

Something that we can not really fathom is the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. God the Son is fully God, but at the same time God the Son submits to the Father as God. This relationship allows God the Son to be no less God while also fully submitting to the Father.

The true shepherd is able to keep his people in security.

The Hebrew does not say "live securely" but rather just live. However, the idea of security is implicit in the text in context.

The word "for" expresses how the true shepherd is able to accomplish so much. The greatness of the true shepherd is so great that his rule is truly universal.

We need the true shepherd to enjoy true peace (5:5-9).

Our first concern should be to know God. Second we might seek the care and love that comes from God. After these needs are met we can begin to talk about our safety. One critical component of safety is peace. Peace is something that most people want. In the United States I am not sure we really understand what it feels like to not have peace. Sure we have wars and unrest but in all reality these events rarely impact our daily lives. This was not the case for the people of Judah.

Image: The lack of peace for the people of Judah.

Micah prophesied at the time that Samaria fell to the mighty Assyrian empire and when the Assyrian empire besieged Jerusalem. Under Hezekiah's leadership God delivered the city of Jerusalem from Assyria but that would not have changed the fear that had gripped the people. At any time the mighty Assyrian empire might decide they wanted something from Jerusalem march in and take it. In fact, the Assyrian Annals describe how Assyria had destroyed much of Judah by entering the land and ransacked the people. The people of Israel may not have been at war at the time Micah wrote chapter 5 but they also could not claim to be at peace.

The true shepherd can provide שָׁלוֹם (shalom) (5-6).

True protection is something that is more than what we typically think of as peace.

Image: We live in a society that needs שָׁלוֹם

This is something we lack. Think about it, we live in a. world where some people enjoy prosperity, some people enjoy security, but we don't have shalom. You don't believe me? Ok, try this, today after church drive your car downtown, leave a few hundred dollars on the front seat of the car, put the keys on the dash, and go for a walk. We are in desperate need of שָׁלוֹם.

Ok, you got the point, let's dig into the details just a little.

The true shepherd enables his people to act (7-9).

The term remnant is a reference to those of Israel who have endured persecution. Those who are no longer able to "act."

Someone who has endured persecution might be thought of as someone who is no longer able to perform their responsibilities.

Here in verses 7 and 8 we see two ways the true shepherd enables his people to act: as a blessing to others and in no longer feeble manner

First, the true shepherd enables his people to be a blessing for others. Palestine enjoys rain from October through March but the other six months of the year requires dew to nourish the crops. The dew is a blessing that allows the land to produce food. The true shepherd enables his people to be a blessing on the world. Second, the true shepherd enables his people to dominate. The picture of the lion is one of complete dominance, unquestionable ultimate victory. The kingdom of the true shepherd will be one that is without equal and without challenge.

We need the true shepherd to root out evil from our world (5:10-15).

Image: A righteous desire to root out evil: Bad Sportsmanship

Have you ever witnessed a terrible injustice and felt a righteous indignation or desire to eliminate that injustice or evil? I will admit that when I am watching a football game and I see bad sportsmanship, a vicious player, or something of that nature I get upset. I want to see the player ejected and fined. It really disgusts me. In 2017 I am a Denver Broncos fan but in the 2016 season I was not happy. During the Jan 1 game against the raiders Aqib Talib yanked a gold chain off of Raiders' receiver Michael Crabtree. When asked why he said that Crabtree had been wearing it all season and it bothered him. Now, I don't fully understand why Crabtree chose to wore the necklace, but seriously yanking a gold chain off a man's neck, that has no place in football. That sort of bad sportsmanship disgusts me. Unfortunately, the problems was not dealt with well by the league and it happened all over again almost a year later when the two met again. My opinion, the league and the refs failed to root the bad sportsmanship out of the game. But that is the world we live in, if you are hoping for government, rules, or anything other than God to solve the problem of evil int he world then you are going to be sorely disappointed.

The true shepherd removes our dependence on things we cannot trust (10-11).

We have a tendency to depend on the wrong things. Israel depended on chariots, fortifications, and strongholds for their protection.

These traditional means of defense are great, but in Israel's case they had become a crutch that was actually limiting the faith of the Israelites. I think we can actually fall into the same situation Most of us don't have tanks, or canons, but we have other things on which we trust instead of God. For example, most of us have a great deal of trust in our money. Some of us place our faith in our house. Sometimes I wonder why God does not just bless all of us with a ton of wealth, I mean think of all the ministry we could do.... If God would give our church a 2,000,000 gift we could get so much done right? See, I am using money as a crutch for faith. Perhaps what God wants is for us to step our in faith and minister like we have a huge gift trusting him to provide. Actually this is exactly what I believe we have done with our pledges and Together We Grow. The point is that the true shepherd does not necessarily give us everything we might want because we would begin to depend on these things. The true shepherd wants us to depend entirely on him.

The true shepherd casts out evil (12).

God had called Israel to separate themselves from the occult. Yet this was not what occurred.

Saul, even after throwing out the occult, sought a witch in 1 Sam. 28:3-25

Even though the people new better, they sought after that which they should have nothing to do with. Are we any different? We tend to have a fascination with the occult. Just take a look at the list of movies that come out in any given year. The true shepherd will solve our problem by casting out evil.

The true shepherd destroys false gods (13-14).

Idolatry was a major problem for Israel.

Israel would use sacred stones as cult objects in their worship of idols and Israel had a habit of worshipping a Canaanite fertility goddess named Asherah.

The true shepherd rules absolutely (15).

We can think of anger and wrath of verse 15 as righteous indignation.

The true shepherd does not stand for those who might corrupt his righteous kingdom.