If ever you’ve been around the church at Christmastime, you have more than likely heard Micah 5:2 read. It is a beautiful Messianic prophecy of the coming Savior who would be born in Bethlehem. Now, we know this promised Savior is Jesus Christ. It never fails to amaze me the countless prophecies in the Old Testament that point to and are fulfilled in Jesus. While it is right to sit and marvel at this verse, I don’t want us to miss the bigger implication and weight of the hope God offers to His people in this passage.
The nation of Israel had split into two nations: Israel and Judah. The people of both kingdoms were knee-deep in idolatry, sin, and wicked practices against God and their fellow countrymen. This is why God sent prophets, like Micah, to call the people to repent and turn back to God. If they didn’t, God would give the people over to what they wanted, which was to be free of God’s regulations and a relationship with Him. This would take the form of the nations being conquered and the people being taken into exile.
Micah warns the people of the coming Assyrians who would take Israel into exile, and later the Babylonians would conquer the Assyrians and also take the people of Judah into exile. While we can read these messages of coming judgment and be easily discouraged, I love the fact that almost every prophet has a message of hope and/or ends with a message of hope. Micah is no exception.
Even though judgment is coming, God would still be at work to restore His people. His faithfulness, grace, mercy, and sovereignty would not fail. That alone is a message of hope that I need to hear today. No matter what I face or what sins I commit, I am never too far from the grace and love of God. He is always at work for my good. I may still have to face hardship and the consequences of my sin, but redemption that is found through salvation in Jesus and my repentance is always near.
God promises that He will send a ruler to come from the line of David, which had already been promised in 2 Samuel 7 and whose hometown was Bethlehem. He would shepherd the people and be a source of security and peace. I love this prophecy because it is as if God is adding another puzzle piece to His grand design. He’s giving the people more and more information of what the Messiah would be like. Additionally, this message probably brought exponential hope to the people.
For so long, they had been ruled by corrupt and self-seeking leaders, yet here we read of a coming king who would be unlike anything they had ever seen. Can you imagine the “pep in your step” that would bring? If I were in their shoes, it would help me to know that things are going to be ok. I can make it through the current hardship because God is at work and in control.
But notice there’s a second part to this message of hope. God is going to purify His people. This may not sound very encouraging, but it really is. In the midst of chaos and corruption, God will remove all of the practices and things that were tempting and turning the people’s hearts away from Him. The people had been called for hundreds of years to just this, to rid themselves of these temptations, yet they never did. Left to ourselves, we are not great at removing the idols within our own lives. But God, in His kindness, declares here that He will do it for the people. He will do the hard thing in order to renew the land. What kindness!
Our God is the same today as He was during the time of Micah. God is still in the business of removing the sin in our lives and giving us a new heart, one that wants to seek Him and wants to obey. It is because of Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection that we can be forgiven and free and can live a life fully surrendered to God, guided by the Holy Spirit.
Micah 5 is much more than a Christmas passage. It is a relevant message of hope that God would restore the people of Israel and Judah. He would send a King whose reign would be one of peace and flourishing. We know this King came as a baby to the small town of Bethlehem. He lived a perfect life and died on the cross for our sins and the sins of the world. In His resurrection, we see our conquering King who promises to one day return and make all things new forever.
Today, we find hope in Micah 5 as God offers us the same invitation to turn to Him and trust Him with all of our beings. He is gracious and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of unrighteousness (1 John 1:9) so that we might live the abundant life. Hope is here, and hope is available today.
