You would think that the Messiah would have been destined to be born in Jerusalem, at Mount Zion, in the Holy City, the place that David had established as the central sanctuary and the capital of the whole nation. Instead, It's best by him. It was a town of no consequence. No one famous lived there, and no one famous was from there. Yet Bethlehem was the small village that God chose to be the birthplace of the long-promised Messiah.
Welcome to Renewing Your Mind on this Friday. I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and I hope you had a joy-filled Christmas yesterday, celebrating the first coming of our Lord. R.C. Sprawl has been taking us back to the Old Testament this week, looking at some of the prophecies concerning our Lord and Savior.
The series is called Coming of the Messiah. And if you would like lifetime digital access to this series, today is the final day to request access when you give a year-end donation at renewingyourmind.org or when you use the link in the podcast show notes. In addition to the series, we also have a Christmas devotional for you. It's 24 devotions based on Dr. Sproll's teaching and includes suggested daily prayers written by various Christian teachers and leaders, including Sinclair Ferguson.
My family used it this year.
So request your copy to use next December or to give as a gift. but this offer does end tonight at midnight.
So please respond now while there's still time. Today, we conclude this series as R. C. Sproll takes us on a guided tour through Scripture to introduce us to this inconspicuous place that became the host to a great king. Here is Doctor Sprawl.
We've been looking at some of the more famous Old Testament prophecies. that look forward to the birth of the Messiah. And one of my favorite Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah is one that's found in a somewhat obscure portion Of one of the lesser known of the minor prophets. It's found. In the book.
of Micah. Let's turn to Mike and Nell today to the fifth chapter. Beginning at verse one The book of Micah. Chapter five, verse one. We read these words.
Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. And they will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.
Now here this chapter opens with an announcement of doom. An announcement of judgment that is coming upon the land, where the land will be. attacked and afflicted And Smith But in the midst of this prophecy of judgment, comes A clause that is an acceptive clause, that is, it pronounces a kind of however. A little breath of fresh air and a brief statement of good news. It says But you Bethlehem Ephretta.
Though you be little among the thousands of Judah. Yet, out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler. in Israel. Whose goings forth are from of old from everlasting. And therefore he shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth.
Then the remnant of his brethren, shall return to the children of Israel. And he shall stand. and feed his flock in the strength of the lore. In the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, And they shall abide, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And this one shall be.
Peace. Again, we see the theme that we've seen so frequently with respect to the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah. He is the one who will come. as the king like David. He is the one who will rescue his people.
He is the one who will redeem the remnant that remain faithful to the promises of God. Remember that one of the functions that the prophets in the Old Testament served. was to be The prosecuting attorneys for God. The task of the prophet was to serve a summons or a subpoena. To a guilty people who had violated the terms of their covenant, of their contract with their covenant God.
And so God would sue them, and He would send His prosecutors to call these people into account and to pronounce His judgment upon Him. And yet, at the same time, when God would pronounce these verdicts of judgment against his people, He would temper that justice with mercy and always have that, however. that promise that was contained within the threat of the ultimate work of redemption that he would perform. And so in the context of this prophecy, we have that same sort of thing going on in the prophetic tradition, where Micah is the spokesman for God, announcing his prosecution against his own people. But in the midst of this, he says, but Out of you.
Bethlehem Ephrata. Though you be small among the princes of Israel. Out of you will come the one Who will be? You're king.
Now it's an astonishing thing to me. that centuries before the birth of Christ, The town that is specifically mentioned in the Old Testament. as the birthplace of the Messiah king. is a tiny, apparently insignificant village. Called best layer.
How like God it is to bring the mighty out of the small. how he doesn't do things the way Cecil B. DeMille does them. You would think that the Messiah would have been destined to be born in Jerusalem. at Mount Zion, in the holy city, the place that David had established as the central sanctuary and the capital of the whole nation.
Instead, It's best playing. And we know where Bethlehem is. Bethlehem is about four and a half miles south of Jerusalem. And people could actually make the trip on foot, and certainly by riding their donkeys and so on. without having to travel for several days.
But even to this day, The town of Bethlehem Village. And if you were to go there, it would be like stepping through a time warp and going back to life as it was in the first century, apart from the tourist attractions and so on, where you will still see the shepherds herding their sheep in the fields in and around this little village. But the village seemed to be somewhat insignificant but had been already known as the City of David. And the meaning of the name Bethlehem Meant. City of bread.
And it's an extraordinary thing how these names come into play. in the whole scope and intricacies of redemption. where the one who is the bread from heaven Is born in the in the city of Brett. And he is born as the successor of David In the city of David. And yet we read in the New Testament that Bethlehem was not.
The place where his parents resided. We recall the strange set of circumstances over which the Providence of God ruled to ensure that this Biblical prophecy be fulfilled to the letter. And the means by which God brought this to pass was working as putty or clay in his hand over the most powerful ruler in all of the earth at that time, Caesar Augustus, Octavius. One of the most powerful Caesars that ever ruled over the Roman Empire. We read in the birth narrative of Christ that a decree, an edict, A fiat.
Went out from Caesar Augustus that all of the world should be enrolled.
So all of these masses and multitudes of people in the conquered territories of Rome were scrambling to their birthplaces or to their legal residence where they might hold property and so on to register for this census. And it came at a most inconvenient time. In the lives of of Joseph and his now pregnant wife. Here she is in the ninth month. and he has to make the ninety mile journey.
From Nazareth two Bethlehem To sign up. For this tax, I don't know how you are, but I remember when I moved to Florida from Pennsylvania, it was such a hassle to go to City Hall and change your driver's licenses and get registered for this and registered for that. And it was such a pain in the neck to go through all this bureaucratic stuff that we have to go to. But I didn't have to walk 90 miles with a pregnant wife in order to do it. And yet In the midst of this hardship, these apparently insignificant peasants.
are forced to make this arduous journey By the decree. of the emperor. But the emperor's decree. was issued. by a higher decree.
The decree of Almighty God. Who decreed from the foundation of the earth that his beloved Son, would be born in the city of David. Would be born in Bethlehem, even as he had revealed to Micah.
so many centuries before the event. And Octavian had no earthly idea. That his decree for this enrollment or this census Had any significance to redemptive history or to western civilization whatsoever, and yet. The reason why more people know of Caesar Augustus than for any other reason in this world. Is because his name is mentioned in passing with respect to the birth.
of the great king. in Bethlehem. Let's take a moment to jump to the New Testament. And look at the narrative that talks about this one who will feed his flock like a shepherd. As we read the Account in chapter two of Luke's Gospel.
We read in verse four of chapter two of Luke's Gospel Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth. into Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. to be registered. with Mary his betrothed wife. Who was with child?
One of the things we notice here is that it says he went up from Galilee. And remember that Galilee is in the north. And Jerusalem is in Judea, which is south of Galilee. And when we speak of geographical. movement in our culture, we talk about going up north or down south.
That's not the way. The Jewish people talked about it. because to go from Galilee to Jerusalem. Was to go up in terms of topography, in terms of elevation. And this was in a higher level above sea level in Jerusalem.
Than was Nazareth. And one of the interesting factors about that, too, is if you ever go to Jerusalem. and maybe want to take a little trip to the Dead Sea. I forget how long it takes on the bus, a half hour, 45 minutes, it's not very long. to go from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea.
and yet the climatic difference in the middle of winter would be similar to going from Chicago to Miami.
So great is the change in temperature in this very short distance because of the difference in elevation.
Now Let's look back then at the text where we read In verse 6, So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. and she brought forth her first born son. and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them In the end, now we've heard this Christmas story. Many, many, many times. And we've seen the crashes and the depictions of.
The Nativity scene.
Some churches even now have live Nativity scenes where people come and they see the animals crowding around. In all likelihood, There weren't any animals around the Cradle of Jesus. They would have been out in the fields.
Now We are told, however, that That he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. And a manger was a feeding trough. that was used to feed the cattle.
Now This doesn't mean that Jesus and Mary and the baby stayed in the barn. In all probability, at least from terms of the earliest references we have in church history. Two The Traditions of the Birth Narratives of Jesus. That Jesus was born in a cave. Right outside the home or the inn.
A cave where sometimes animals were kept for shelter from the elements. And in this cave there probably would have been a little portion A shelf in the rock hollowed out. That could be used to put in foodstuffs to feed the livestock. And so we can picture now Joseph and Mary seeking shelter in this small cave because they can't get into the inn. There's no hotel room available for them, no private residence in which to dwell.
and the promised king of Israel. Is born not only in this small village of Bethlehem Ephrata. But in a cave and laid In a manger. And the circumstances of this birth obviously call attention. to one of the dimensions that marks the whole character of the life and ministry of Christ.
When theologians examine The life of Christ. They notice that there is a basic progression in his lifetime. That we say moves basically from Humiliation. Two. Exaltation.
From the nadir of affliction. And again, humiliation. Two. the extolled position of glory that he receives in his ascension.
Now one of the things we have to notice when we say that there's this movement from humiliation to exaltation, that it's not simply a steady, one-dimensional, upward movement where the lowest point of his humiliation is in his birth and his highest point of exaltation is in his resurrection. But it's kind of erratic. It jumps up and down. In the midst of his period of humiliation, where Jesus is walking around masking his divine glory in the form of his humanity, having given up his reputation and so on. Where he's walking the sands of Palestine, there are moments of breakthrough where his glory.
penetrates this outer covering. Of his humanity. I wrote a book once called The Glory of Christ. It was one of the most fascinating books I've ever written. Fascinating, not in the sense of the finished product, but in the sense fascinating for me doing the research.
And it's called The Glory of Christ. And all I do in that book is look at those episodes in the life of Jesus where his glory shines through. where his glory becomes manifest, like at the transfiguration. For example. Of course, the lowest point of Christ humiliation.
was on the cross. We understand that. But what I want us to notice here is that even though his birth is in the surroundings and trappings, of humiliation. There is one of those episodes of the breakthrough or the intrusion of glory that takes place. Not in the cave.
But out in the fields. Where remember, this one who is born is going to feed his flock like a shepherd. He is going to be the shepherd king. And it's congruous, it's fitting that the divine announcement Of the birth of the Messiah would come first to the lowliest people on the social totem pole of Israel. the shepherds.
And let's look quickly. at that record. Verse eight of chapter two of Luke.
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the LORD stood before them, and the glory of the LORD shone round about them. and they were greatly afraid. But the angel said, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you.
Born to you. This day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign. You will find a babe. Wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.
And then suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. Do you see what's going on here? A sound and light show such as never appeared on the face of the earth before. The Shekinah glory, the blinding, dazzling refulgence of his glory now breaks out over this field. and stuns and terrifies these peasants.
They have no idea what's coming on. They're seeing now this blinding light that is associated with the chariot throne of God Himself. And then they hear the voices of the angels announcing the birth. Of their Savior. And one of my favorite parts in this whole scripture is: if it may sound insignificant, we used to sing an anthem in the choir when I was in high school.
And there was something about this one line that just grabbed me. And the line went like this, Let us now Go. Even Uh Best layer. And see this thing. which has come to pass.
I mentioned The response of the shepherds To the fulfilment of the prophecy of Micah. But out of this tiny little village, this insignificant sight among all of the great princes of Judah. There would be born the Messiah. And when his birth is announced to the shepherds in the field. And after they have been overwhelmed, by the blazing, dazzling light of divine glory.
and their ears hear The announcement of the messengers of God that their Savior has been born. God through the messengers tells these shepherds they will find a sign. A sign that would confirm to them the fulfillment of their deepest expectations, their wildest dreams. Their most moving hopes. You will see a babe.
wrapped in swaddling clothes. lying in a manger. Is it any wonder that after they heard this announcement and saw this blinding light? But they looked to one another and said, Let us now. Right now.
Go even unto Bethlehem. and see this thing. which has come to pass. And that's my prayer for you. in this Christmas season.
But you will go now. The best land. and look for the one. who was born. for you.
The angel's proclamation wasn't just for those shepherds. It's a call to each of us as well. Thanks for listening to Renewing Your Mind on this Friday. I'm Nathan W. Bingham.
All week, R. C. Sprawl has shown us the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah. I'd love for you to have this series.
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