Please turn to Micah 4. I will read through Micah chapter 4 into chapter 5. This is a passage that is often read at Christmas time. It speaks of how Christ will come out of Bethlehem. Micah 4—Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum. Micah 4:1-13:
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.
Micah 5:1-4:
Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
Micah is a very difficult book. The entire book is talking about the judgment that God is going to bring on Israel for their turning away from Him, for their backsliding, for their worship of idols, turning to idols, and yet it is looking right at our day when God judges His church.
The nation of Israel prefigured the New Testament church, and this time that was to come to the Israelites when they were to be taken into captivity has now come upon the church for their apostasy, for their turning away from the Word of God.
So this is what we are looking at here in this passage of Micah 4 and into 5. He is speaking, in one sense, about the judgment that is going to come on Israel, and again it is looking right at the church today, and He is speaking of the birth of the Messiah. He is actually speaking of the crucifixion of Christ here, too, because it talks about how they shall “smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.” It is also talking about the end of the Church Age, again, as we have seen how Old Testament Israel prefigures the New Testament church. And this is also speaking about the very end of the world.
We start out in chapter 4, where He says in Micah 4:1:
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, …
Now we can, in one sense, look at the whole New Testament as the “last days.” After Christ went to the Cross, the Gospel went out into the whole world, and a lot more people were going to be saved than had been saved in the Old Testament.
Let us look at Hebrews 1, in the opening verses of Hebrews. We read in Hebrews 1:1-2:
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
He spoke in the Old Testament to the people by His prophets who were inspired by God. But now, we see Christ, as it were. He went to the Cross and the Gospel went into the whole world. The veil was rent, which signified a couple of different things. It was the end of God’s relationship with national Israel as His corporate people. But also, we now see more clearly that Christ has fulfilled all of those Old Testament prophecies which spoke of Him. However, He speaks of it here in Hebrews 1:2 as “these last days.” God “hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son” and by His Word. We no longer have the prophets as Old Testament Israel did.
But where He says here in Micah 4:1, “in the last days it shall come to pass,” this can also be speaking of what is happening right now as God has brought judgment on His church. He is not using the church anymore. He is not blessing them. He has removed His Spirit from that corporate body. This is what He said He would do in 2 Thessalonians 2:7. Now “the mountain of the Lord” is spoken of as this period when “the mountain of the house of the Lord” is established, as we read about in Revelation 7.
In Revelation 7:4, we read about the hundred and forty four thousand of the twelve tribes of Israel that were sealed. After that, it says in Revelation 7:9-10:
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Revelation 7:13-15:
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
This is speaking about those who are now being saved, this “great multitude” from all over the world who have come through Great Tribulation.
So again, in Micah 4:1 we read:
…that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, …
Incidentally, these first couple verses of Micah 4 are spoken exactly the same in Isaiah 2:1-4. Isaiah and Micah both prophesied at the same time in Israel. And what He is saying here and in Isaiah was actually over 700 years before the birth of Christ, but this is looking right at the judgment on Israel. It speaks of the coming of Christ and then the Cross. Then it speaks of the end of the church age and then the end of the world.
Turn a book or two ahead to Haggai. This is during the tribulation period when Israel was in captivity. In Haggai 1:8, He commands the Israelites:
Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.
This is the same figure that He is using as we read in Micah 4:1, “the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains.” It is actually speaking of building the Kingdom of God, of bringing in God’s people to the “house of the LORD.” This is not a physical house. This was prefigured by the temple in the Old Testament. The “house of the LORD” is actually the true believers in the “mountain of the Lord,” which is the Kingdom of God.
So in Micah 4:2 [Note, the speaker said “Haggai” here when he intended to say “Micah”], we read:
And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: …
What are the “ways” and the “paths” of the Lord? They are the Bible, are they not?
Continuing in Micah 4:2, it says:
…for the law shall go forth of Zion, …
The Law is the Word of God.
…and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Zion and Jerusalem both mean basically the same thing. They represent the City of God.
Micah 4:3 says:
And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off…
This is speaking of how God or the Lord Jesus will judge among many people. As He brings the Word, the Gospel, through His people, strong nations will be rebuked afar off. This is actually speaking of people being brought into the Kingdom of God from the nations that, heretofore, fought against “the commonwealth of Israel.” Again, a picture of the believers.
Micah 4:3 continues:
…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: …
Swords and spears were weapons of war. But now those who are saved who were the enemies of God, as they are brought into the Kingdom of God, will “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks.” The plow and the pruninghook are both implements that have to do with agriculture, and God likens the getting out of the Gospel as plowing. Christ spoke of pruning branches, of purging the tree’s branches so that it might bring forth more fruit.
So again here in Micah 4:3, this is speaking of how the heathen, those among the heathen nations who are brought into the Kingdom of God, will no more be the enemies of God. They will be used of God to plow His ground, to do His work, to get the Gospel out in order that people might be saved, to sow the seed, as it were.
Let us look at Romans 5:10. This verse tells us that before salvation, we were all the enemies of God. We were all from heathen nations. We were all from outside of the “commonwealth of Israel.” It says in Romans 5:1:
Therefore being justified by faith, …
This means to be made right before God by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
And in Romans 5:10, it says:
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
This says that we were enemies of the Cross of Christ. We were enemies of God before He worked in us to save us.
Back in Micah 4:4, it says:
But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; …
And Christ said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” These are figures of being under the shadow of the Lord.
But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; …
The fig tree is a type of the church. It was also, I believe, sometimes used as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
This came from the mouth of God, just as the whole Bible did. Micah 4:5 goes on to say:
For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
And Micah 4:6 says:
In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;
The one “that halteth” and those who are “driven out” and those whom God has “afflicted” are those whom He is bringing to salvation. A person that halts is a person who is lame. This is an Old English word that speaks of limping.
In Luke 7, after John the Baptist had been thrown into prison, he sent a couple of his disciples to Christ to ask Him, “Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?” John is now having doubts because he does not understand, just as Old Testament Israel did not have a full understanding of the nature of the Messiah, that He would come as a suffering servant, not as a conquering political figure who was going to take Israel and free them from Roman rule.
In Luke 7:22-23, it says:
Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, …
These are all figures of salvation:
…the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
Before salvation, we cannot “walk” in the way that God wants us to “walk.” He causes us “to walk in His ways.”
So Micah 4:6 says:
In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble…
Or gather:
…her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, …
And again, we have been “driven out.” Actually, God is speaking here to the Israelites, how they are going to be taken out of their land, driven out of their land. He is going to drive them out of their land into affliction, into captivity in Babylon. [Note: the speaker here mistakenly said “in Israel” when he intended to say “in Babylon.”] But yet the remnant whom He is going to save will be brought back.
Look at Jeremiah 27:14:
Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.
He was telling them that they were going to be taken into Babylon. Then, speaking of these prophets, it says in Jeremiah 27:15:
For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.
God is going to drive them out of their own land, into captivity in Babylon, and yet in Micah 4:6, He says:
In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;
Amongst those who are driven out, He will have a people. And “her that I have afflicted” means that He has put tribulation on His people.
This applies to us today. We suffer tribulation as true believers in this world. We have been driven out of churches, as it were, but yet our own sins have driven us away from God, too. You can read that in Isaiah. Our sins have separated us from God. We have been cast out of the presence of God, as it were, as in the Garden of Eden.
We were all in the loins of Adam. Adam and Eve were in a perfect world, yet they were cast out and this world was cursed. Their flesh was cursed because of their sin. Yet from among these people whom God has cast out, He, in His mercy, has a remnant who will be brought back.
This is what is spoken of here in Micah 4:7. It says:
And I will make her that halted a remnant, …
This is speaking of a remnant from Israel who will be saved.
…and her that was cast far off a strong nation: …
Again, the same principal of being driven out.
…and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.
Then Micah 4:8:
And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.
Micah is speaking of the Messiah coming now. “First dominion” can be translated “chief ruler.”
But He goes on in to say in Micah 4:9:
Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.
He is speaking now of His people who are “as a woman” who is going to give birth. He is going to relate this to the coming of the Messiah, but yet He is speaking of their going into captivity in Babylon.
We read in Micah 4:10:
Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, …
He is going to cast them out of that city, His city.
…and thou shalt dwell in the field, …
All through the Bible, God uses the word “field” as a figure of the world. Out there in the world, they are going to dwell. Outside of Jerusalem, they are going to be taken into Babylon.
…and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; …
That word “delivered” is very often translated “saved.” Salvation is going to come to the Israelites when they are outside the “Kingdom of Heaven.” They have been driven out of their own lands.
…there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.
Micah 4:11 says:
Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.
Again, this is speaking of the wicked in the world, even the wicked in the church who want to take over the rulership of God’s corporate church. They are looking on Zion, and “many nations,” evil nations, “are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled and let our eye look upon Zion.”
Micah 4:12 says:
But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.
He may be speaking of His people here, His true believers, where it says, “He shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.” Or this could be speaking of the unsaved who will be gathered, those who will grow together with the wheat, as in the parable of the wheat and tares, until the time of judgment when they will be burned. “For He shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.”
But in Micah 4:13, He says to His people Israel:
Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.
Where He says, “Arise and thresh,” it sounds like the people of God are going to take part in that judgment and that they are going to be slaughtering all the unsaved at Judgment Day. But that is not what this means.
All throughout time, God’s people have been taking part in judgment. Look at Psalm 149. When Adam and Eve fell in the Garden, that was a judgment on all mankind. At that point, they were cast out of the presence of God from the Garden of Eden and they were cursed and the first death came upon all men. Psalm 149:1-9 says:
Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.
Now again, as we read this superficially, it looks like the elect are going to be used to bring judgment on the unsaved, that there is going to be a slaughtering and that they are going to take part in that. But that is not what this is saying. Look again at what it says in Psalm 149:6:
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
We know from Hebrews 4:12 that the “twoedged sword” is the Word of God:
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, …
What this is saying is that God’s people, as they walk this earth and God works in them, willing and doing of His good pleasure, God brings the Gospel to the world through His people. This is what brings judgment on the unsaved. We see this in many places in the Bible.
In Jude 1:14-15, we read this same principal:
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, …
This is speaking of the unsaved.
…saying, Behold, the Lord cometh…
This is actually in the past, “the Lord has come” or “the Lord came.”
…Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Again this is the same principal. All through time, God’s people, as they have brought the Word, as they have brought the Gospel to the world, they have participated in judgment.
So back here in Micah 4:13, that is what this is saying:
Arise and thresh, …
And threshing has to do with separating the wheat—the grain, the good grain, the usable grain—from the chaff, and that is what God’s people are going to do. “Arise” has to do with salvation. Actually, it literally says, “Arise to the threshing floor and thresh,” and the threshing floor, again, speaks of judgment. The threshing floor is where the wheat is separated from the chaff; and, actually, Christ went through that judgment. We could work through this word “threshingfloor” and we would see how Christ was brought to the “threshingfloor” as He suffered the wrath of God in the place of all those who would be saved.
Again Micah 4:13:
Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: …
And God uses iron and brass in the Bible in the context of judgment.
…and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.
He says, “I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD.” This means that as the Israelites came into the Promised Land, they were ordered to wipe out those nations. They were ordered to kill the women and the children. This is a horrible thing for us to try to understand, but this is just another principle that is laid down in the Bible—judgment and how judgment comes first.
The Old Testament speaks a lot of judgment, but in that judgment, as the Israelites defeated those nations and drove those heathen nations out of the land of Canaan, there were also people who were being saved and being brought into the Kingdom of God; and it is the same today. God’s people are fighting a war; “the weapons of our warfare” are spiritual. That is what He means when He says, “I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD.”
In other words, we are plundering Satan’s house. We are spoiling the house of Satan as we go into the world with the Gospel and God’s people, from among the heathen, are brought into His Kingdom.
Micah 5:1 starts out by saying:
Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
This is speaking of how the enemies of God, the unsaved out there, are making war against the Kingdom of God. This is why He is saying:
Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: …
The enemies of the Lord are always fighting and resisting the Kingdom of Heaven. Now He speaks in the second part of that verse, where He is obviously speaking about Christ at the Cross:
…they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
They actually and literally smote Christ with a reed at one point after they had taken Him. That reed and that rod, if you study this and work through it, are pictures and representations of the Word of God. They mean basically the same thing.
Christ was judged by the Word at the Cross, and we have to understand what happened at the Cross. He was entirely guilty. He had on Him all the sins of those who would be saved. Whatever happened in that atonement, and we cannot understand this, but whatever happened, He suffered enough that all God’s people would be saved and would be able to come into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever that punishment was, it was a transaction that was perfectly met; a payment was perfectly made. A sin debt was perfectly paid for when the Judge of Israel was smitten with the rod upon the cheek.
Now in Micah 5:2, He says:
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
He is everlasting; Christ is everlasting. This is just one more verse in the Bible that is telling us that Jesus is God. But it is telling us here that He is going to be born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem means “the house of bread,” and Christ is the Bread of Life. Bethlehem is also the hometown of David, who in the Bible is also a very prominent picture of Christ. I think it is safe to say that wherever you read about David, you are reading about Christ.
Micah 5:3 goes on to say:
Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
Now in one sense, this is speaking of Mary as she gave birth to the Messiah. She was a picture of Old Testament Israel, but they have been given up. Micah is prophesying that they would be given up, that they would be taken into Babylon. Our salvation comes while we are outside the “Kingdom of God.”
Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
This is speaking of a remnant: those whom He truly saved, saved only by what God has done.
Let us read from Luke 2, and we will close. All through the Bible, salvation is all tied in with the birth of a baby. We can look at Isaiah 9, which is the passage that begins, “Unto us a child is born.” We can look at references in the Epistles that tell us that Christ is born in us at salvation.
Let us turn to John 3 for a minute. In John 3, Christ is speaking to Nicodemus about salvation. Nicodemus did not understand what it meant to be “born again.” God says in John 3:5-8:
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
We cannot tell. We do not know if we are saved; we do not know the moment we were saved. We just simply cannot tell. It is God who does this and begins to work in us. I believe that when you speak with people who are truly saved, they cannot tell you the moment of their salvation.
Again, salvation is integrally associated with the birth of a baby. Turn back to Ecclesiastes 11. The thrust of the whole chapter of Ecclesiastes 11 is to “cast thy bread upon the waters,” to get the Gospel out. The “waters” represent all the nations of the world.
Ecclesiastes 11:1 starts out:
Cast thy bread upon the waters: …
Bread is the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ:
…for thou shalt find it after many days.
And I believe that “it” refers to Christ.
In Ecclesiastes 11:2, He says:
Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.
This is speaking of judgment. This “portion” that we are to give to “seven, and also to eight,” again, is the Gospel. The children of God are here simply to get the Gospel out, but we do not know how God is going to work through it and who He is going to save.
He goes on in the same vein in Ecclesiastes 11:3-4:
If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.
Again, “sowing and reaping” have to do with getting the Gospel out. So if we are concerned with other things, if we are letting other things hinder us, we are not going to “reap.”
Look at Ecclesiastes 11:5 and think of what Christ told Nicodemus:
As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.
See how He is relating salvation to “how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child”?
Then He goes on in Ecclesiastes 11:6 to say:
In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
Again, this is the same principal: just get the Gospel out. God will work through it and save whom He will save.
So in this beautiful passage that we just read in Micah, salvation would come through the birth of that baby, this is what we are celebrating now at this time of year. We rejoice, even looking at what the world does with Christmas and the debacle that they make out of it. Still, we may go into a store where they are playing Christmas carols, and they are actually playing Christmas carols that speak about the birth of Christ and mention His name. So we can just rejoice in this.
Look at what is going on out there this time of year. Maybe God will use this just to bring a few to recognize, to take a look at, to step outside of the picture and ask what is going on. Maybe they will ask, “What are we celebrating? What are we doing with this horrible mess? We are supposed to be celebrating the time when the Messiah came into the world to be the suffering servant, to go to the Cross and to suffer and to endure the wrath of God in the place of those who would be saved.”
Let me just read a little bit from Luke here and then we will close with prayer. In Luke 2:8-11, we read:
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And the shepherds went in, as we read in Luke 2:16-18:
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
Notice the flock; they feed the flock. Again, Christ is the Good Shepherd and yet all true believers identify with Christ in that they are used by God to be shepherds, to simply tell the world of this unspeakable gift that has been given to us, this glorious thing that has been manifested to us by God Himself.
Could it be that each one here could say that he is resting in Christ. May each one hearing this Word just glorify God and thank God and praise Him as we recognize this season where most of the country and a lot of the world is celebrating the birth of that Messiah into the world, although a lot do not have any understanding of what happened there.