Why Bethlehem - Part 2

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Thanks to the generosity of our supporters. Your donation today means great podcasts like this remain available to help people look to God daily. Please make your donation to Vision-a-thon today at vision.org.au Today on Turning Point, Dr David Jeremiah returns to the little town of Bethlehem and how it fulfilled an important prophecy about Christ's birth with amazing accuracy. To introduce the conclusion of his message, why Bethlehem, here's David. Well friends, we're studying the Nativity. We're studying the Incarnation. We're studying and enjoying and reviewing everything we know and learning some things we didn't know about the birth of Jesus. All of these messages start with the word why. And it's from a little book I did some years ago for Tyndall House called Why the Nativity.

There are 25 of these altogether. We can't do all of them in December, but we're picking some of the more prominent ones and we're right in the middle of a discussion of why Bethlehem. Bethlehem is a place you would not go to unless you had something to do there. It was away from Jerusalem, not a big city. The Bible calls it the least among cities. And yet here in this humble place, the Savior of the world was born.

Why? Why is that part of the story and why Bethlehem? Well, let's get back to Bethlehem and find out what we need to know about this little village. Jeremiah calls forth the ghost of Rachel to remember the sorrow and suffering that would one day take place when the innocents were destroyed in Bethlehem. How in the world does one ever reconcile the glorious birth of our Savior with the bloody massacre of all of the male children under two years of age?

Hear me carefully. In the contrast of death and life is the picture of redemption that is proclaimed in the birth of Jesus. Our God was not responsible for the massacre of those children, but he was responsible for sending one into the world who could by his own life and death make it possible for those who die physically to live eternally. And in the death of the babies and the birth of Jesus is the picture of why Jesus had to come into the world in the first place. Until we see our Lord's birth against the backdrop of the massacre in Bethlehem, we will never realize why it is so important for him to come. He came to rid us of the ugliness of sin, and there is no picture of the ugliness of sin like the infanticide at Bethlehem.

Even today in our culture when we read of little children being tortured or mothers killing their own offspring or children being abducted, our hearts are filled with anger because it represents the ugliness of the world of sin. And here in this picture of Bethlehem is the killing of babies and the birth of the baby who will put an end to all of that ultimately. Bethlehem's not just an accident.

It's not just incidental. It's all a part of the sovereign plan of God. Bethlehem was a place of sorrow, but as you continue to read the Old Testament, it's also a place of selection. In the book of 1 Samuel, we read a story that's very familiar to most of us. It's the story of the selection of David to be the king of Israel. We read in 1 Samuel 17, 12, Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons, and the man was old and advanced in years in the days of Saul.

Little Bethlehem provided Israel with its most enduring hero. Samuel the prophet had come to Bethlehem, and the Scripture says he had been sent there by Almighty God to select the king of Israel who would succeed the man-chosen king Saul. So David would be the first God-chosen king. The book of 1 Samuel records how the prophet came to the house of Jesse, and he carefully sized up all of the young men of the household. His godly eye finally fell upon David, and the shepherd boy who was out in the field and wasn't even in the house when the examination took place, the least likely to succeed, here Samuel announced was the raw material of a popular king.

Here stood one who was destined to be known as the man after God's own heart. From shepherd to king, what an amazing story that was. In Bethlehem the king of Israel was selected.

Now watch carefully. Bethlehem became known as the city of David. Jesus is called the son of David. Through the city of Bethlehem flowed the lineage and descent of our Savior. And the night that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, another king was selected. He wasn't selected to be king of Israel.

He was selected to be king of kings and Lord of lords. Isn't Bethlehem an interesting place? Not only a place of sorrow and selection, it's also a place of salvation. One of the wonderful stories of the Old Testament is found in the four-chapter book called Ruth. And in Ruth chapter 4 verse 11, we read these words, All the people who were at the gate and the elders said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, who built the house of Israel, and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Here we are in Bethlehem again.

From the time that Jacob spoke of Bethlehem as he was about to die, there's no important reference to the city for many years. And then all of a sudden you open the book of Ruth and here in this little book, the city of Bethlehem is mentioned seven times. The book of Ruth presents to us one of the most perfect pictures in all of the Old Testament of the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Boaz, a rich citizen of Bethlehem, was the near kinsman of Naomi and by law was bound to redeem the inheritance of the deceased relative and marry his widow. You can read the story of Ruth.

I don't have time to tell it all to you today. But we read in Ruth 4.13, So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. The words redeem, redemption, and kinsman redeemer occur 19 times in the four chapters of Ruth. And Ruth is only mentioned one time in all of the New Testament.

You'd be surprised where it is. You know where she's mentioned? In the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew chapter 1 verses 5 and 6, Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth.

Obed begot Jesse and Jesse begot David the king. The whole story of the Old Testament leads up to the birth of Jesus. In Bethlehem was the story of Jacob and Jesus was from the descent of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the story of the selection of David comes David and Jesus is called the son of David.

And in the story of Ruth we meet this woman and in the genealogy of Jesus she is mentioned as being in the line of descent of our Savior. And the one thing that connects all of these together is Bethlehem. Why Bethlehem? Well, the city of Bethlehem was prepared historically and the city of Bethlehem was prepared symbolically. In Micah chapter 5 and verse 2 we have the Old Testament prophecy that tells us that Jesus is going to be born in Bethlehem.

And let's remind ourselves of what it says. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrata, are only a small village in Judah, yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distance past. Now in the verse you will see that Bethlehem has two names, Bethlehem and Ephrata, two names, two meanings. Bethlehem means and always has meant the house of bread, the house of bread. Its child, Jesus, would later be called the bread of life. And he would say, I am the living bread which came down from heaven in John chapter 6.

What other place but the house of bread would produce such a person as Jesus? But what about the other name, Bethlehem Ephrata? And the word Ephrata is a much older name for the town of Bethlehem and it means fruitfulness.

Ephrata is a word that means to be fruitful. So to a hungry time and a thirsting world came the bread of life who teaches us to have a fruitful life in his behalf. Our Savior was born for the hungry as the bread of life.

He was born for the helpless and now he comes to us as our Savior. So Bethlehem was prepared historically through Ruth and David and Rachel and all the story of the Old Testament that finds its commonality in the city. Bethlehem was prepared symbolically by its very name, the house of bread. But perhaps the most amazing thing about this city is yet for us to discover and that is that the city was prepared prophetically for the birth of Christ. We have alluded to Micah's prophecy but I want you to catch the importance and the amazement of this prophetic utterance because in many respects Micah 5 2 may be the most amazing prophecy in all of the Bible. Micah said that Bethlehem, the least of all the cities in Judah, would become the birthplace of Christ. Now hear me friends, Micah wrote that prophecy in 722 BC.

Critics who want to destroy the Bible have zeroed in on Micah 5 2 and they've tried to find some way to get it out of the text because it's a great embarrassment to them and there is no way for them to explain it. But they have not been able to undermine Micah's identification of the birthplace of our Lord, a prediction that was made at least 600 years before the birth of Jesus. At the time of our Lord's birth, when Herod gathered the whole Jewish Sanhedrin together and inquired where Jesus was to be born, they responded in Matthew 2 5 and 6 in Bethlehem of Judea for it is written that way by the prophets, they said.

Later on in the book of John, in John chapter 7 in verse 42, we read that the Jews of Palestine were still willing to admit that Micah spoke of the coming Messiah. Here they said that Christ comes from the seed of David who was from the town of Bethlehem. All throughout the early part of the New Testament, we have verification that everyone believed that Bethlehem was the place where Jesus was to be born, even as Micah had said it would be 600 years earlier. Sometimes people say, well, maybe he wasn't born in Bethlehem.

Maybe they just made that up. Well, let me just tell you that five or six different times in the nativity story, Bethlehem is mentioned as the place of the birth of Jesus. Luke the historian says that the holy family went down to Bethlehem and there Jesus was born, Luke 2 4 and 5. The angels said that a savior had been born in the city of David, Luke 2 11. The shepherd said, let us now go unto Bethlehem and see this thing which the Lord hath done, Luke 2 15. Herod the Great sent the wise men, not to Jericho or Jerusalem, he sent them to Bethlehem to see the newborn babe. And fearing for his own kingdom, Herod sent his soldiers to Bethlehem. There was never any doubt on the part of the historians concerning the birth of Christ that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

So we have these two facts that we have to reconcile. Micah in 7 22 saying Jesus will be born in the city of Bethlehem and all the historians who record the birth of Jesus telling us that that is exactly where he was indeed born. Now let me just try to help you understand the significance of this and the awesomeness of this prophecy. When this prophecy was made, when Jesus was on this earth, three continents were known to man, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Asia was chosen, but Asia has many countries. But one country is indicated, a little country known as Palestine of Syria. Here there were three districts in Palestine, Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. It is Judea that is the correct one, and it is chosen by Micah in his prophecy. But here again in Judea are many villages, literally thousands of little villages, and Bethlehem is the one that is chosen out of all of the thousands of villages in Judah. The prophet reaches down 600 years before the event, puts his finger on a little obscure village in Judah and says, in that town the Savior will come to be born.

It's an amazing, amazing truth. And once again, all it does for those of us who study the Scripture is just draw big underlines under the truth that God's book is a miracle book, that this book is full of truth you can find nowhere else in all of the world. It is the book of God, and in the book of God you have God's miraculous truth being spoken as if it had happened historically six centuries before it actually took place, choosing from all of the continents the right one, and from the continent the right country, and from the country the right district, and from the district the right city, and then as if there's any doubt as to whether it is Bethlehem of Zebulun or Bethlehem of Judea, the prophet Micah says it is Bethlehem of Judah. Aren't you glad that the message of Christmas rests on accurate, prophetic truth and historic relevance?

It is not some little Mickey Mouse story we thought up so we would have something to do around the Christmas tree. It is the story of God and his coming to this earth so profoundly preserved for us in the Scripture that those of us who are Christ followers sit up and take notice that we're dealing with something in this book that is like nothing else the world knows. This is God's book. This is God's truth that Jesus came in Bethlehem. And so some of us as we get all of this historic information and try to wrap our arms around what we have heard, we find in our hearts saying, and so what? So what? He was born in Bethlehem.

So what? I think Phillips Brooks captured it for us in the last line of that little song he wrote. The hopes and fears of all the years are met here in Bethlehem tonight. What happened when Jesus came in Bethlehem is the real story. Where he came is an interesting fact, but that he came is the exciting truth. That he loved us so much that when his father called to him from heaven and said, Son, I have a task for you to perform.

I want you to leave the splendors of heaven and go down to that dirty speck called earth, and there I want you to live for 30 years and give your life a ransom for those who need to be saved so that I can bring them to my heaven. And the Bible says that Jesus said, Lo, in the book, in the volume of the book that is written, I will do your will, O God. And Jesus stepped out of the corridors of heaven, and the book of Philippians says he humbled himself, and he came to this earth, and he became a man, and he became obedient even unto death, and he died on a cross so that you and I might be forgiven. I celebrate Bethlehem, my friends, because I've been to Calvary. I celebrate the cradle because I have stood beneath the cross. I celebrate the coming of Christ because my sins were forgiven as the result of his coming. And the wonderful message of Christmas for all of us is not about all the details, though they're important for us to know, for they bring confidence to our faith. The important truth about Christmas is this, that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

So let me ask you the question today. Have you believed in the Christ of Christmas? Have you put your trust in him? Have you opened your heart? Have you allowed the birth of Christ to happen in your heart? Did you know that the Jesus who was born in Bethlehem wants to be born in your heart?

He wants to set up his home within your life and begin to give you direction and strength. And I want to tell you, and it's fresh in my heart, that the mighty God who lives within you in the person of Jesus Christ is able to do above and beyond all that you will ask or think, and he will give you not only the forgiveness of your sin, but he will give you a friendship that is like no friendship you have ever known. Do you know him today? Have you received him as your Savior? Let me ask you, if you will, if you have never received him, to pray a simple prayer with me as we close today. And just pray this prayer in your heart. You don't have to pray it out loud.

You don't have to move your lips. This is just between you and God. But I want to lead you in a prayer that you can pray to receive Christ into your heart, and you can do that right now.

So let's bow together, shall we? Father God, we thank you that in this Christmas season, there is a message of joy and hope that we can bring to the discouraged people of our generation, and that hope is in the person of Jesus Christ. And so for those today who have never received you into their life, Lord, I pray that you will grant them the faith to pray this prayer honestly in their heart. Dear God, I know I'm a sinner, and I know I cannot save myself. I know that you came down to this earth because you loved me, and you want me to be forgiven of my sin.

You want to wash my heart clean. Lord Jesus, I understand that you did this for me, and I want to accept your wonderful gift, this wonderful gift of eternal life. I accept you, Lord Jesus, into my heart. I receive your forgiveness of my sin.

I ask you to help me to live my life so that it will be pleasing to you. And Lord God, I know that you hear me because you have promised that you would. Father, I want to thank you for everyone who prayed that prayer here today because each holiday season, there are many who come to church and pray that prayer.

We hear about it over the course of the year. We pray that you will encourage them to be open about their decision, to say to somebody today what they did in this service, to share their faith with others, to be open about it within the context of the church, and to find out what God wants them to do next and to be obedient. And Lord God, we thank you for what you are doing and what you're going to do, and we give you praise and honor and glory. In the strong name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Amen. Well, tomorrow we're going to talk about why there was no room in the inn.

That's the next why question for why the nativity. The December series here on Turning Point. Tomorrow we'll talk about why there was no room in the inn. I hope you'll be with us as we celebrate Christmas together on Turning Point. Today's message came to you from Shadow Mountain Community Church and Senior Pastor, Dr. David Jeremiah.

We'd love to hear your story of Turning Point's impact on your life. Please write to us at Turning Point, Post Office Box 3838, San Diego, CA 92163. Or visit our website at davidjeremiah.org forward slash radio. Ask for your copy of David's 365-day devotional for 2021.

It's called Strength for Today. It's filled with biblical truth for each day of the year ahead. And it's yours for a gift of any amount. And to keep your spirits bright through the holiday season, visit the Home for Christmas channel at turningpoint.tv. It's your free source for Christmas music, videos, messages and more. The Home for Christmas channel at turningpoint.tv. I'm Gary Hoogfleet. Please join us tomorrow as we continue the series, Why the Nativity. That's here on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.