Micah 5:1-15
It is for times such as these that the gospel comes forth with power--power to bring peace and power that carries with it a sword, and Micah 5 places before us the ways of life and death. Micah’s prophesy intensifies and enlarges, at the same time, the scope and meaning of the coming of the Messiah. The Judge of Israel shall come and they shall smite Him with a rod upon the cheek. This is coming in the round of Lenten preaching. Good Friday will exhibit before us the arrest and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Micah speaks of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The holy prophet shows us Christ’s eternal Godhead and His taking on of flesh, beginning in Bethlehem. The imagery is striking: Bethlehem means “house of bread,” and Ephratah means “fruitful.” The great irony is that Bethlehem-Ephratah was rather insignificant. It was the least of the towns in the land of Judah. But this is the way the Lord does things. He takes the insignificant and forgotten things, the despised things, and uses them for His divine plan to save all mankind. Jesus is described by the holy prophet as one who shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord......”and they shall abide.” Micah does not leave us out of the equation. But we find ourselves struggling to understand it. Our fallen nature has the tendency to cloud our judgment. Sin tends to numb us. The real danger lies in this chapter right alongside the wonderful gospel that tells of Christ’s coming. The danger lies in the things of this world and ourselves. What is it really that differentiates those who belong to this Divine Shepherd and those who do not belong to Him? Is it not the fact, in the case of those bound for destruction, that they live for themselves? Micah talks of the heathen and he talks of Nimrod. Nimrod’s home was Babel in the book of Genesis, and Babel is known for the tower of Babel, which was the earthly kingdom that was against God: against all that God was and stood for. Nimrod lived for himself. Those of Babel lived for themselves. They were attempting to build a tower that stood above all things, thereby showing their dominance over God and everything in the world. They lived to give honor and majesty to themselves instead of the Lord. The Assyrians are described as that evil and oppressive tyrant that lived for itself, delving into magic, witchcraft and all manner of idolatry. The thread running through the Assyrians behavior was that they lived according to their own desires. St. Paul’s words to the Thessalonians fall into context when he says, “...the man of sin will be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s Temple, proclaiming himself to be God”(2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). The Assyrian army, the son of perdition, all that calls itself God shall set itself up against the Lord. The real issue in all of this is in whom and for whom you live. The difference between heaven and hell lies in the issue of your habitation (habitus--sxema). If you abide in Christ, then you rest in His mercy and forgiveness. But, if you live for yourself, then you abide as an isolated individual and your portion shall be just that--alone in perdition, without the advocate and Lord Jesus. But instead of the tower of evil that separates, it shall be Jesus, the strong tower, who stands tall watching over His church, gathering her. Verse 5 describes the Messiah as this man who shall be the peace. He will not only bring peace; He is the peace. And it shall be the seven shepherds and eight princes who shall lay waste the land of Assyria with the sword, but this sword is not the sword of Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane who cuts off the ear of Malchus. Peter shall use a different sword against the enemy of Christ. This sword shall be the preaching of Jesus Christ as the one who sets free the bound and broken-hearted, and it shall be the shepherds, or, the pastors who shall go forth contending for the flock of Jesus. In the mouths of the shepherds and princes is the sword and it is a two-edged sword, piercing souls and discerning the thoughts and intents of the hearts, thereby leading people away from themselves and Babel, to enter the kingdom of God, which is Christ our Lord. It is in this that you live. The world shall be dealt with by Jesus, and while the world and its Assyrian ways shall be defeated by Christ, we rest in Him and thereby are surrounded by His love and forgiveness. Heaven and Hell, peace and destruction are two sides that stand opposite one another as Jesus enters the battlefield in the flesh. Micah tells of the horrible end for the ways of Assyria, which are symbolic of the ways of this world. But the imagery captures its beauty by the stark contrasts in chapter 5. For the tearing of the lion, with all its horrid imagery, makes the peace in our midst so much more striking. Numbed and aloof due to sin and our own fallen nature, Jesus enters your midst and, while you are dead, Jesus brings you to life. Jesus takes you out of the country of Assyria and places you within His pasture. He stands tall and carefully guards you. His peace comes over you and protects you. You are no longer your own. St. Paul speaks concerning the church: “For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God”(Colossians 3:3). While those things concerning hell stand on the other side of the battlefield with the Assyrians, it is the remnant of Jacob, the Body of Christ, that body that is one with Christ that is set free. We are a part of the remnant of Jacob that dwells in things heavenly. Things heavenly are a part of us because we are united to Christ. We shall find our home in heaven, and it is our Lord and Savior who has ransomed us from ourselves. Our lives are in Christ: we are not our own. He loves us and it is a pure gift. Christ is our peace. He is our Savior. We rest in Him and His living sword, the Word with which His Holy Spirit contends for us in the battle. Christ is for us the dew of heaven that gives refreshment to all our souls as a field of grass that revives with the life-giving rains. Amen. -- Rev. Chad Kendall Trinity Lutheran Church Lowell, Indiana www.trinitylowell.org http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=243282012833
