Week 51: Bethlehem's Hope

This week's Bible reading plan is as follows: 

• Sunday: Micah 5:1-7:20; Revelation 7:1-17; Psalm 135:1-21; Proverbs 30:5-6
• Monday: Nahum 1:1-3:19; Revelation 8:1-13; Psalm 136:1-26; Proverbs 30:7-9
• Tuesday: Habakkuk 1:1-3:19; Revelation 9:1-21; Psalm 137:1-9; Proverbs 30:10
• Wednesday: Zephaniah 1:1-3:20; Revelation 10:1-11; Psalm 138:1-8; Proverbs 30:11-14
• Thursday: Haggai 1:1-2:23; Revelation 11:1-19; Psalm 139:1-24; Proverbs 30:15-16
• Friday: Zechariah 1:1-21; Revelation 12:1-17; Psalm 140:1-13; Proverbs 30:17
• Saturday: Zechariah 2:1-3:10; Revelation 13:1-18; Psalm 141:1-10; Proverbs 30:18-20

Our S.O.A.P. this week is from the book of Micah:

Scripture: Micah 5:2-5
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
are only a small village among all the people of Judah.
Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you,
one whose origins are from the distant past.
The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies
until the woman in labor gives birth.
Then at last his fellow countrymen
will return from exile to their own land.
And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord's strength,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
Then his people will live there undisturbed,
for he will be highly honored around the world.
And he will be the source of peace.

Observation:
People today equate the word "prophecy" with "prediction." So they are surprised to learn that only about 2 percent of all biblical prophecy is predictive. Most prophecy is proclamatory, which means that it is the proclamation of God's timely message to a situation that is happening at the time. God called prophets mainly to preach to the people in their own day. In fact, that's what Micah was doing. Most of the time in his book, when Micah talked about future events, he was speaking about the judgment that would befall Israel if the people did not repent. His message was about turning to God in repentance right away.

What we see in Micah 5:2-5 is a rare phenomenon in biblical prophecy. This passage is an instance of pure prediction. Verse 2 calls to mind the old Christmas hymn, O Little Town of Bethlehem.

Bethlehem was God's chosen place for the Savior's birth.

In Hebrew the word Bethlehem means literally "house of bread." It was a small city and one of the oldest in Israel. It is first mentioned in Genesis 48:7 as the place where Rachel died. Ruth lived there. It was also King David's home at one point...and Joseph was a descendant of David, which is why he had to go there to register for the census that Augustus Caesar decreed.

But why did God choose Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah? Why not Jerusalem, the most famous city in Israel? We can't say for sure. What we can know, however, is that more than 800 years before Jesus' birth, God predicted through the prophet Micah that the Savior of the world would be born there.

Application:
When one thinks of the circumstances that led to Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, and that his specific birthplace was predicted so long before it happened, one cannot help but be blown away.

It makes us realize that God is in charge of this world in ways that go far beyond our powers of perception. It makes us realize that if God can take the self-serving impulses of a power-hungry Roman emperor and use them for (or at least incorporate them into) his divine plan to bring the King of kings and Lord of lords into the world in a certain place, he can also lead us through the dark and uncertain days brought on by the senseless acts of violence in Clackamas, Oregon, and Newtown, Connecticut.

What Micah's predictive prophecy about Jesus' birth proves, among other things, is that God is in control, even when we are caught off guard by the unthinkable things human beings sometimes do.

The senseless and brutal murders of these people were not part of some "bigger plan" for God to be glorified through incomprehensible suffering. If the story of Jesus' standing at the graveside of his dear friend, Lazarus, proves anything at all about God's feeling towards death, it is that he comes to us in our grief and joins us in our mourning, even though in the end he will vanquish death and wipe every tear from our eyes (Revelation 7:17).

The prediction of Jesus' coming into the world proves that God is not caught off guard by human caprice and malice. And the fact of Jesus’ coming proves that there is life after death and therefore joy and consolation after such incalculable loss. But in the present, there is God with us, Immanuel, sharing in this journey of pain and entering fully into our grief.

Prayer:
O Lord, the One who Is and Was and Is to Come, the Great I Am, we lean into your embrace in this strange and paradoxical period of loss and unrealized hope, knowing that because of your Incarnation Love, we are not alone with our pain. Please be our ever-present Strength in this season of anguish and grief. Tarry with us now in this pain and lead us in the Way Everlasting. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

May this last week of Advent bring you hope and peace.

Faithfully, Chuck