O Little Town Of Bethlehem Series

Valerie Kulhavy of Casper, Wyoming, took her three young children through the food line at a recent church dinner. As she juggled everyone's plate and drink, she told the kids to be on their best behavior. When they were finally seated, she sighed with relief and told her children they were doing great – that they hadn't had any catastrophes yet. At that, her 3-year-old, Dawn, looked around and said, “Where are they, Mommy? I'll go get them.” (Valerie Kulhavy, Casper, WY, Today's Christian Woman, “Heart to Heart,” www.PreachingToday.com)

That’s the last thing anyone wants, a catastrophe, but life is often full of them, even if you don’t have three young children. So, how do you handle the catastrophes? How do you deal with the disasters in life? How do you manage in times of distress? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Micah 5, Micah 5, where the prophet, Micah, shows people in distress how to find real peace.

Micah 5:1 Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. (ESV)

Micah is describing a future time of distress for Jerusalem, a time when the Babylonians will lay siege against the city and Israel’s king will be humiliated. In Micah 4:10, Micah warned Judah that they would “go to Babylon.” Here, He tells them to prepare for Babylon’s siege by uselessly mustering their troops. One of the commentators said the sense of the verse is more like, “Now crowd together with fear in a troop, for the enemy sets, or prepares, a siege against us” (Keil & Delitzsch).

On top of that, the enemy will humiliate Israel’s king by striking him on the cheek, which was the height of embarrassment and disgrace in Bible days. When a later prophet, Jeremiah, who lived through the Babylonian siege, described those days, He said, “Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults” (Lamentation 3:30).

Micah warns the people of his day: the Babylonians are coming. They will lay siege to the city of Jerusalem, and they will humiliate your king.

And that’s exactly what happened. Nearly 200 years later, 2 Kings 25 says, “They killed the sons of [king] Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon” (2 Kings 25:7). The Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem and disgraced its king.

The future was bleak for Micah’s audience; and perhaps, the future is bleak for you, as well. You don’t face the Babylonians, but you see bill-collectors on the horizon. You don’t face the Chaldeans, but the prospect of cancer scares you spitless. Or you don’t face an enemy’s siege, but you feel so besieged with problems, you can hardly stand the stress.

How do you find peace in times of distress when the future seems bleak? Well, look at what Micah says to the people of his day. The future looks bleak for Jerusalem…

Micah 5:2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. (ESV)

Don’t put your hope in some politician in the capital city. Put your hope in a Ruler who will come from the insignificant, little town of Bethlehem.

Bethlehem was so small that it was not even mentioned in the official lists of Judah’s towns (Joshua 15; Nehemiah 11). Yet from this tiny, little place would come the greatest Ruler of all time, whose coming is “from ancient days” it says here in verse 2, literally, from “days of immeasurable time” (John A. Martin, BKC). One commentator said, “It’s the strongest assertion of infinite duration of which the Hebrew language is capable” (Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown).

You see, this Ruler is none other than the eternal Son of God, who has no beginning or end. He has existed from all eternity and is the Sovereign Lord of all. John said of Him in the New Testament, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14). That little baby Jesus, born in a manger in Bethlehem, is none other than the Eternal, Sovereign Lord of the universe!

So, if you want to find peace in times of distress, don’t look to the politicians in Washington D.C. or any other capital city. Look to the Eternal Potentate from the little town of Bethlehem.