The echoes of Christmas remind us that the Lord often does what is most significant in the world in places and people that are viewed as being insignificant by the world...

This week we are looking at another echo of Christmas that is found in a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Micah. So far this week, we have seen Micah confront the Jewish people of his day for placing their trust in human plans and power instead of the Lord. Micah then predicted and proclaimed that there would be a day in the future when the Jewish people would be conquered and led captive to Babylon.  Their selfishness and rebellion that led them to place their trust in their own plans and power instead of the Lord would lead to them being conquered and led into captivity.

125 years before the events in history would actually occur, Micah proclaimed that the Assyrian Empire would be conquered by the Babylonian Empire, which would then invade the Jewish nation and, in 586 B.C., conquer the nation and lead them into captivity. In addition, Micah proclaimed that there would be a day in the future, after their captivity, that the Jewish people would be given the opportunity to return to their home. And in 538 B.C., 50 years after being conquered and led captive by the Babylonian Empire, the Persian Emperor Cyrus, after conquering the Babylonian Empire, allowed the Jewish people to return home in fulfillment of this prediction by Micah.

Micah also proclaimed that while King Sennacherib and the army of the Assyrian Empire, which consisted of forces from other nations that were in treaty with the Empire, were intent on desecrating and destroying the city of Jerusalem, the Lord had gathered them together for a far different purpose. Instead of desecrating and destroying the city of Jerusalem, King Sennacherib and the Assyrian army would be desecrated and destroyed.

However, while Micah proclaimed the future deliverance of the Jewish people by the Lord, he also proclaimed the sadness and suffering that the Jewish people would experience at the hands of the Assyrian Empire. Micah proclaimed the reality that there would be a day in the not too distant future where the Jewish people would be forced to muster their troops in defense of the city of Jerusalem. There would be a day in the not too distant future when the Jewish people would mourn over the impending attack that would take place in light of the siege of the city of Jerusalem that would occur. There would be a day in the not too distant future when the king of the Jewish people would be humiliated by the invading Assyrian army.

However, while Micah proclaimed a time of mourning and humiliation for the Jewish people and the Southern Kingdom of Judea, that did not mean that the Lord was done with the Jewish people. Instead, it is at this point that the Lord, through the prophet Micah, made a promise that served as an echo of Christmas. A promise that is recorded for us in Micah 5:2:

 "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity."

Here we see Micah proclaim that there would be a day in the future when the Lord would fulfill a promise that He had made to the Jewish people’s most famous king, King David, that one of his descendants would be the messiah and ruler that would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world. However, the town that would produce the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise would not be Jerusalem, its capital city. Instead, the town that would produce the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise would be the little town of Bethlehem.

Bethlehem was not a bustling metropolis; Bethlehem was a small rural community. Bethlehem was not a destination that up and coming people moved to in order to start their careers; Bethlehem was a departure point that people left as soon as they grew up. However, Bethlehem, this small, unimportant town would produce the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to send a descendant of King David, who would be the Messiah, who would rule over the Jewish people. And this Messiah, this ruler, Micah explained “goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”

In other words, this Messiah, this ruler, would not be a simply another human ruler who would rule temporarily over the Jewish people. Instead, this Messiah, this ruler, would be eternal and His rule would be eternal. This Messiah, this ruler, would be God in a bod who would usher in the kingdom of God. However, in the midst of this promise from the Lord for the future, there would be punishment and judgment from the Lord in the present. We see Micah reveal this reality in Micah 5:3-6:

 Therefore He will give them up until the time When she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren Will return to the sons of Israel. ⁴ And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth. ⁵ This One will be our peace. When the Assyrian invades our land, When he tramples on our citadels, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men. ⁶ They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, The land of Nimrod at its entrances; And He will deliver us from the Assyrian When he attacks our land And when he tramples our territory.

Micah proclaimed that the Lord would send the Jewish people away as a conquered people into captivity, where they would remain a divided people until the birth of the Messiah. However, the Messiah, upon His arrival, would reunite the Jewish people. Micah proclaimed that the Messiah would shepherd the people of God in the power of God and in the name of God. And in the future, this Messiah, this ruler, would rule in a way that would result in His fame and renown spreading throughout the world. This Messiah would rule in a way that would defend and defeat the enemies of the Jewish people as He united the Jewish people and provided leaders for the Jewish people.

And it is here, in this prediction and promise by this prophet, that we discover a timeless echo of Christmas that reverberates as a reminder to humanity throughout history. And that timeless echo is this: The echoes of Christmas remind us that the Lord often does what is most significant in the world in places and people that are viewed as being insignificant by the world. You see, it is in the prediction and promise by the prophet Micah that we see the Lord remind the Jewish people of the reality that He often accomplished His greatest work in the world by those who were often overlooked by the world.

For example, the Lord did His most significant work in the life of the Jewish people through their most famous king, King David. However, King David was not viewed as being significant in the eyes of those around him. Instead, King David was the youngest of eight sons who was given the insignificant job of watching the sheep. And when Samuel was sent by the Lord to anoint and appoint the next King of the Jewish people, both Samuel and David’s father totally overlooked David. As a matter of fact, King David’s father had to call and get David from the field where he was watching the sheep because his father did not even believe that he was significant enough to be in the presence of Samuel.

Yet, while David was viewed as being insignificant, the Lord was about to do what would be most significant for the Jewish people, and for all humanity through David. You see, it was through this insignificant youngest child that the Lord would anoint and appoint to be king that the Lord would promise to send a Messiah and King who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world. And this descendant of David would be born in an insignificant, small backwater town of Bethlehem.

However, while Bethlehem was viewed as being insignificant in the eyes of the world, Bethlehem would be the place where the Lord would begin to do what would be most significant in the world during that first Christmas. Because that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about the Lord doing what is most significant in the world in a place that was viewed as being insignificant by the world.

And the timeless reality is that the Lord still operates the same way today. In the Lord’s eyes no place and no person is insignificant. And each and every day the Lord is at work to do what is most significant in the world in the places and the people that are viewed as being insignificant by the world.

However, the reality that the Lord often does what is most significant in the world in places that are viewed as being insignificant by the world is not the only echo of Christmas. Next week, we will uncover another echo of Christmas.