There He Stands

"There He Stands"

Micah 5:2-6

Where is God when disasters such as 9-11 and Hurricane Katriana strike? Many people seem to think He is either totally absent or just indifferent and uncaring. But that is just not true! Today we look at a passage of Scripture that came to God’s people at a time when Israel was in moral and spiritual decline. Micah prophesied against what he saw, and God gave him this word of assurance -- that in spite of difficulties to come, God would stand with them. These principles and truths apply to God’s people today. In every experience of life, good and bad, we can be assured of this great truth about God: "There He stands!"

I. The "everlasting One" stands for us (5:2).

A. Jesus, the "everlasting One", loves us and gave Himself for us.

B. No matter what may come, be it outward attack or the devastation of a natural disaster, it is the One "from of old",Jesus Christ who stands above it all, unchanging in His love, mercy and grace.

C. Your feelings don’t determine whether He stands or not. It is a fact that He stands!

II. He stands as our Good Shepherd (5:3-4).

A. Christ’s reign in His Church is that of a shepherd-king.

B. He has supremacy, but it is the superiority of a wise and tender shepherd over his needy and loving flock.

C. He commands and receives obedience, but it is the willing obedience of the well-cared-for sheep, rendered joyfully to their beloved Shepherd, whose voice they know so well.

D. He rules by the force of love and the energy of goodness.

E. Are you one of the sheep of His pasture? Is He your Shepherd? He stands ready to be!

III. He stands continually to provide for us (5:4).

A. His reign is practical in its character. It is said, "He shall stand and feed." The great Head of the Church is actively engaged in providing for His people.

B. He does not sit down on the throne in laziness, or hold a sceptre without wielding it in government. No, He stands and feeds.

C. The expression "feed," in the original, is like a smilar one in the Greek, which means to shepherdize, to do everything expected of a shepherd: to guide, to watch, to preserve, to restore, to tend, as well as to feed.

D. His reign is continual in its duration. It is said, "He shall stand and feed"; not "He shall feed now and then, and leave His position"; not, "He shall one day grant a revival, and then next day leave His Church to barrenness."

E. His eyes never slumber, and His hands never rest; His heart never ceases to beat with love, and His shoulders are never weary of carrying His people’s burdens.

IV. Because He stands, we need not fear (5:4-6).

A. His reign is effectually powerful in its action; "He shall feed in the strength of Jehovah."

B. Wherever Christ is, there is God; and whatever Christ does is the act of the Most High. Oh! it is a joyful truth to consider that He who stands to-day representing the interests of His people is very God of very God, to whom every knee shall bow.

C. Happy are we who belong to such a shepherd, whose humanity communes with us, and whose divinity protects us. Let us worship and bow down before Him as the people of His pasture.

D. When the enemies of God, the enemies of truth, the enemies of all that is good and right -- when they invade or attack, be sure that "There He stands!" He stands ready to strengthen, guide and sustain us through whatever may come.

CONCLUSION

(Read Romans 8:31-39) Where do you stand? Does your life stand or count for something? It should! Stand with Jesus today!