O Little Town of Bethlehem

Written By Office Admin

Scriptures: 

 Micah 5, Also: John 7:40-41, Micah 4:11-12, 1 Samuel 17:12a

Jewish Expectations of the Messiah:

  • John 7:40-41 - Ancient Jewish people knew that Jesus was from Galilee, and argued among themselves since they knew the Messiah was supposed to come from Bethlehem (not Galilee). 

  • How did the Jews know the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem? The prophecy in Micah!

  • Micah 5:2 - prophecies the Messiah being born in Bethlehem

    • Micah 5:2 mirrors Micah 4 - judgement is coming, BUT hope (the Messiah) is coming too!

    • Micah 4:11-12 - the picture here is Israel being gathered like threshing wheat.

    • Micah 5:1 - gather the troops for the coming judgement!

    • Micah 5:4 - the Jews knew God said the “bad guys” will come and crush you, but a “hero” is coming too! His greatness will cover the earth.

    • Ancient Jews knew a hero was coming, hadn't come yet, and that he would crush the enemy and reign forever.  

    • We can see this prophecy is fulfilled by Jesus in hindsight, but the Jews missed many things about Jesus due to the expectations they had. 

  • JEWISH EXPECTATIONS OF THE MESSIAH:

    • The hero from Bethlehem will come with “earthly greatness.”

    • The name ”Ephratha” - mentioned in 1 Samuel 17:12a and Micah had expectations that the Messiah would be great and mighty, glorious and powerful like King David. 

      • “Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem…”

      • The ancient Jews only thought of King David as the great warrior…they missed the connection of Jesus to David the lowly shepherd boy.

    • Jews assumed he would crush human enemies.  But Jesus crushed the ultimate enemy (sin & darkness).  — When you crush the ultimate enemy, THEN you crush the lesser human enemies, because they can be redeemed and come under the Lordship of Jesus.

  • The significance of Bethlehem is that God became lowly to rescue the lowly.

    • We easily gravitate towards earthly greatness, but the heroes of the kingdom are the meek and lowly.

Demands/Expectations of the Christmas Season:

  • As we lean towards earthly greatness, we fall into putting heavy demands on ourselves.

    • There’s no time that this sense of heavy demand is greater than at Christmas! 

      • demands to give / receive gifts…

      • demands to go to parties and make small talk…

      • all good things, but creates a sense of being overwhelmed by the season

  • As we fall into a trap of putting heavy demands on ourselves, we start to fall into another trap of envisioning God putting heavy demands on us. 

    • Satan wants you to fall into a trap of feeling like your failing to perform for God means you need to stay away from him.  

    • BUT God says come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest!

    • Example - if we feel anxious or depressed, we start to feel guilty for feeling bad. (“Why don’t I have enough faith to feel better right now?”) Feeling completely unworthy…

  • The story of Bethlehem and Christmas is God coming for the lowly or unworthy. - Feeling unworthy is not a disqualifier.  When you feel “unworthy” you’re feeling that lowliness! 

    • God doesn’t look at how we’re “feeling” and discard us because of that. 

    • We are not disqualified from Kingdom stuff just because we feel unworthy.

  • Invitation: Don’t let feeling disqualified stop you from doing good work in the kingdom. God is for the unworthy and for the ones who feel broken.

Office Admin
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And They Shall Call His Name Immanuel