Imagine if you knew that within 100 years everything in our nation - the economy - the cities - the people - everything we value and treasure about this country - within 100 years it would all be gone. How would that knowledge weigh on our hearts?

Micah saw down the line of future history - God’s coming judgment on the sin of his people. He saw the future coming invasion of the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians - which did come in 722 B.C. He saw the future coming Babylonian invasion of the Southern Kingdom - which came in 586 B.C.

Imagine the burden on Micah’s heart. In the face of this coming judgment Micah tried to call his people back to God - to repentance. But the people wouldn’t listen. There were a couple of brief turnings towards God under King Hezekiah and under King Josiah. But, within about 100 years of Micah’s prophecy God’s people had been conquered and led into exile.

With that burden on his heart Micah begins in 5:1: “Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; they have laid siege against us; with a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.

This is a picture of coming disaster and no matter how large and powerful an army the Hebrews can muster - in their own strength - its still not going to be enough. Their king will struck on the check - humiliated - unable to defend himself.

Which happened. When Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians captured Judah - they took King Zedekiah - the last Hebrew king - they brought his sons and had them executed in front of him. He was powerless to stop them. Then they put out both of Zedekiah’s eyes and dragged him off to Babylon in chains - humiliated him. All part of God’s judgment of sin.

Micah 5:2: But - and that “but” is important. It’s Paul Harvey’s “The Rest of the Story” Judgment is coming, “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’s the judgment - but then Micah is also given a vision of God’s blessing of salvation. A vision which goes farther into the future - 700 years farther - past the Assyrians and the Babylonians - the Greeks - the Romans. A vision which stretches to the first coming of Jesus Christ. A prophetic vision that was used by Herod’s chief priests and scribes used to answer Herod’s question, “Where is the Messiah to be born?” A vision which includes us today - and beyond - into God’s future unfolding plan of salvation.

Before we go on - it’s important for us to let this tremendous truth that God has shared with us through Micah - to let that truth sink into our hearts.

No one knows when Jesus was born. Different branches of the Church celebrate Christmas on different days. One thing is certain - according to the Bible - the description of shepherds out in the fields - Jesus wasn’t born in December. We celebrate His incarnation on December 25th because in 354 A.D. Bishop Liberius of Rome ordered people to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th as a way to christianize the pagan Feast of Saturn - honor Jesus instead of the Roman god Saturn.

The date isn’t important. What’s important is the place. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Ephrathah - an historical fact. Ephrathah to distinguish it from any of the other Bethlehems at the time. 700 years before Jesus is born Micah nails down the place so that - as God has preserved this prophecy for us - we recognize what God is doing. Jesus is the Messiah - the Christ - our Savior - foretold by God through Micah.

We sing, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” With the familiarity of the words we sometimes forget how miraculous those events were. Caesar Augustus and his census that got Mary on that donkey and moved her and Joseph from Nazareth to that little town of Bethlehem. All ordained by God before the creation of time and the universe. All this is according to God’s purposes and plan of salvation.

Here in verse 2 - look at how Micah emphasizes the significance of what God is doing. Three awesome statements about Jesus. First, Jesus is the One who goes forth for God. Which speaks of His role as the Savior. In 1 John 4:14, the Apostle John declares, “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”

Second, Micah says that Jesus will go forth for God to be the Ruler - sovereign over God’s people and creation. Isaiah 9:7 tells us that Jesus will sit on the throne of David - ruling over Israel - into eternity. All of creation will bow before the sovereignty of Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:9-11).

Then, third, Jesus goes forth from the days of eternity. Which reminds us that Jesus is God. In John 1:1, the Apostle John tells us that Jesus “was in the beginning with God and that Jesus is God.”

Grab hold of that truth. All this - here in verse 2 - testifies of the certainty of God’s coming salvation. In that manger God wrapped Himself up in human flesh - born a human child - truly God and truly man - the means of our salvation.

Going on - verse 3 - Therefore - because of this coming judgment and offer of salvation - I - God - will give them - the nation of Israel - 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.

Israel will reject Jesus as her Messiah. So God will give them up - these 2 thousand plus years between Jesus’ crucifixion until His return - until the day when Israel will recognize her Messiah and He will rule over her.

Verse 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. This One will be our peace.

In that future day - Micah looking down the ages as God unfold His plan of salvation - on that future day - Jesus - His majesty as God revealed - Jesus will reign as King over all the earth - reign with the loving care of the Good Shepherd. He will establish the peace we all long for.

Grab hold of that truth for yourself. We should have no doubts - the certainty that God loves us too much to let us be lost in sin. God’s desire is to bless us with His salvation. He desires to work in our lives that we may trust Jesus as our Savior - to establish us in a right relationship with Him. He desires to work in us to bring His healing and deepen our relationship with Him - to bring His peace to our lives.

Coming to verses 5 to 15 - there are two promises that God makes to His people. Promises that come as a result of being blessed with God’s salvation. Promises that we can look forward to seeing fulfilled in our lives as we trust in Jesus as our Savior.

The first promise comes verses 5 to 9: The lifting up of God’s people.

Verse 5: 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. 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.

Sometime in the future - God will raise up leaders in Israel who will lead Israel to victory over the nations that are oppressing them. “He” - God - will deliver them. That hasn’t happened yet. But, it will.

Verse 7: Then - when God delivers His people - the remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on vegetation which do not wait for man or delay for the sons of men. The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which, if he passes through, tramples down and tears, and there is none to rescue. Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries, and all your enemies will be cut off.

In verse 7 and again in verse 8 God speaks of the “remnant of Jacob.” It’s important we understand what He means. When a person makes a quilt they take little pieces of cloth - scraps - remnants of larger pieces of cloth - and sew them together making one large quilt. The same idea is true here.

These Satan inspired atrocities in the Abu Ghraib prison - it’s sad, people in the Muslim world - and other places - they look at that and think the United States is Christian nation - so Christians act like that. But, there’s a difference between the United States as a country founded on Biblical Christian principles - and people in the US who’ve responded to the call of God on their lives.

The prophet Isaiah - a contemporary of Micah - Isaiah speaking of God’s judgment and salvation, Isaiah writes, “For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea - an immeasurable number of Jews - only a remnant within them will return - only the remnant will be saved.” (Isaiah 10:22; Romans 9:27) There’s a difference between Israel as a nation - a political and ethnic group - and Israel as the remnant - a smaller part of the whole. The remnant are the people who have responded to God’s call over their lives.

The Church is the same way. Many people come to church and its possible to know all about Jesus - to be very religious and spiritual people - to be church attendees and servers and supporters - to live morally upright - to be seen as outstanding members of the Church and still not know the blessing of God’s salvation. The remnant within the Church are those who know Jesus - who’ve repented of their sin and given their lives to Him - trusting Jesus as their living Savior. (Romans 11:1-36)

Within Israel - as there is today in the Church - there has always been a group of people who are truly God’s people. God is taking the remnant of Israel and the remnant from the Gentiles and stitching them together to be His quilt - the people of His Kingdom. Here in Micah 5 - that spiritual remnant within the nation of Israel are the people that God is speaking about.

In a future day, those who are the remnant of Jacob will be like dew from the Lord - refreshing - watering the vegetation - a blessing from God to others. Its hard to say that about the nation of Israel today, isn’t it? But imagine being set free - lifted up from our own sinful egos and selfishness to be a blessing to others.

The remnant will also be like a lion let loose in a flock of sheep - devouring at will. No longer persecuted and ridiculed and rejected by those who reject Jesus - the remnant will be lifted up - no longer trampled under the feet of our enemies - but lifted up above all that. A future time of justice for God’s people.

Are you a part of the crowd or a part of the remnant? Are you trusting God because you’re part of a religion or because you know Jesus personally as your Savior and you’ve given your life to Him?

The second promise begins in verse 10: The purification of God’s people.

Verse 10. “It will be in that day,” declares the Lord, “That I will cut off your horses from among you and destroy your chariots. I will also cut off the cities of your land and tear down all your fortifications.

In that future day God will purify His people of any reliance they might have on anything or anyone else but Him. All our military and political and economic might - gone.

Verse 12: I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you will have fortune-tellers no more - no more horoscopes in the newspaper or fortune cookies in Chinese restaurants - I will cut off your carved images and your sacred pillars from among you, so that you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands. I will root out your Asherim from among you and destroy your cities.

In that coming day God’s people will be cleansed of their spiritual idolatry - all the false gods and beliefs and philosophies and religions - the Satanic influences of the occult - gone.

Verse 15: And I - God - will execute vengeance in anger and wrath on the nations which have not obeyed.”

After centuries of graciously warning us what is to come. After judgment after judgment calling mankind to return to Him. After centuries of being rejected - in that coming day God is going to judge it all and purify His people. On those who have not turned to Him He will execute vengeance in anger and righteous wrath. God will deal with sin. He will purge the earth of all that is unholy.

This hurts. But if we’re honest we know that we need God to purify us. We’re too easy on ourselves. We tolerate sin. You and God know where you’re at this morning - the stuff you struggle with - the issues in your relationship with God - what we involve ourselves with - our thought life - our speech - our attitudes and actions - our self-destructive behavior of sin that drives away from God. God’s promise is that He is dealing with sin in our lives. And one day - praise God - we’re going to be set free form all of this and finally be pure before our Savior.

Coming back to the burden of Micah - looking ahead to what was coming - I’d like to share one last thought. Chuck Swindoll shares this story about himself and his wife Cynthia.

My wife, Cynthia, and I were flying from Portland back to Los Angeles from a pastor’s conference. We had reached cruising altitude, and they were just beginning to serve the meal when suddenly the plane banked rather sharply. We noticed that the flight attendants quickly put the food away and even took trays back from people and quietly whispered among themselves.

As we banked, the pilot came on with that ice water flowing through his veins voice, “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We have a little mechanical difficulty. We’re gonna have to drop back in on the Portland airport. We’ll be there for a little while and then we’ll be back on course.”

So we reached Portland. And just as we touched down, immediately the flight attendant came. She hadn’t answered any questions until the moment we touched down. She said, “Listen very carefully everyone. As soon as we come to a stop, you’ll hear a sound, you’ll hear a bell. At that moment, take the closest escape route you can. Some of you will go out the front. Some of you will go out the tail. We may even have to use the slide.”

And then as the plane pulled to a halt, she said, “There’s a bomb threat. Take nothing with you. Get off.”

Would you believe, people stopped and opened the overhead bin, “Is this your bag? Did you bring a briefcase?” We’re suppose to get out! The attendant is saying, “It’s a bomb threat, men and women! Get off the plane!” And even then they’re grabbing under their seats for their belongings. And the guy doesn’t want to leave his briefcase. It’s funny, we don’t take warnings seriously. (1)

It would be so easy to go on complacently with our lives, “Great worship - interesting message - kept me awake, mostly - some things to think about.” Looking ahead at what’s coming - we need to hear the passion in Micah’s voice - God warning us of what’s coming. God desiring to bless us with His salvation. Get right with God. We need to be in remnant. We need to be pure.

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1.  Charles Swindoll, Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes - under complacency