Sermon #16                                                                                                                                     Micah Series

      Title:                                 Christ the Glory-man

      Text:                                  Micah 4:10

      Subject:               The Incarnation and Birth of Christ

      Date:                                Tuesday Evening — January 17, 2012

      Tape:                                Micah #16

      Readings:           Darin Duff and Larry Brown

      Introduction:

The title of my message is Christ the Glory-man. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the man who came from Glory that he might win Glory for us, ascended back to Glory, and will soon bring us to Glory. This great Glory-man is the Man in whom the glory of God is revealed to the everlasting salvation of his people. We read about him in Micah chapter 5. — Christ the Glory-man — Micah 5:1-15.

When we read the fifth chapter of Micah’s prophecy, it is obvious that the prophet of God is still addressing the Babylonian Captivity to which the children of Israel must be subjected for seventy years and then delivered by the man appointed of God. Yet, reading this fifth chapter of Micah, it is equally obvious that Micah was inspired of God to write about something far more significant than the Jews’ captivity in Babylon for seventy years and their deliverance by Cyrus.

·      Micah here speaks not merely of Israel, the physical nation, but of “the Israel of God,” God’s church, that “holy nation” of which Christ is King.

·      The prophet is not merely talking about a deliverer. He is talking about Jehovah-Jesus, the Deliverer come out of Zion.

·      He is not merely telling us that Nimrod shall be destroyed and spoiled. He is telling us that Satan shall be destroyed and spoiled.

Proposition: Micah’s prophecy in these fifteen verses is all about our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory-man and the salvation he accomplishes for and in chosen, redeemed sinners by the omnipotent mercy and grace of his Spirit.

Smitten Judge

First Micah tells us that Christ our great Judge, “the Judge of Israel,” the Judge of all the earth, he before whom all worlds shall be judged, was to be smitten with a rod.

Micah 5:1 “Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.”

These words describe Zion’s troubles. She was to be brought down to great affliction. Troops of enemies must encompass her. We know, however, this prophecy looked beyond the captivity of the church in Babylon, because the next verse is a promise that in the midst of this trouble the Lord Jesus Christ would come into the world. So the troops here spoken of refer to the Roman government in Judea at the time of our Savior’s incarnation and throughout his earthly life and ministry. They were the men who smote our dear Savior during his mock trial (Matthew 5:39; 27:30).

The Incarnation

Next Micah tells us about our Savior’s incarnation and virgin birth, naming the specific place of his birth hundreds of years before it came to pass.

Micah 5:2 “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

“Bethlehem” means the house of bread. That is where he was born who is the Bread of Life! Bethlehem was “little among the thousands of Judah.” — There the Son of God stooped to become a man, humbled himself, as Jehovah’s Servant, and began that obedience unto death by which he would bring in everlasting righteousness for us (2 Corinthians 8:9). — But his work did not begin at Bethlehem. Look at Micah’s inspired declaration again. — “His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting!”

I will say more about that on another day. For now, I want you to notice that the Lord God says concerning Bethlehem, “out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel.”

·    He came down from heaven, from the triune Jehovah to Bethlehem.

·    He came out of Bethlehem that he might go up to God as our God-man Mediator, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

·    He ascended back up into heaven to the Lord God, our all-glorious, triune Jehovah, that he might be Ruler in Israel (Acts 2; Philippians 2:5-11; Romans 14:9; John 17:2).

·    He came down from heaven on a mission from Jehovah to save his people.

·    He accomplished his mission.

·    And when his mission was accomplished he made his exodus out of the earth back to Jehovah in heaven.

The Appointed Time

Third, in verse 3, Micah tells us that there was a set time, an appointed time for all this to be accomplished.

Micah 5:3 “Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.”

The sense of this verse seems to be, that there was to be great trouble in Israel, until this glorious event of Christ’s birth was accomplished. So it was. Yet there is more. — Judah and Jerusalem, Israel must be cast off until the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in (Romans 11:26-27).

·      “In due time Christ died for the ungodly!”

·      “In the fulness of time God sent forth his Son!”

·      “Behold, thy time was the time of love!”

·      The time of Zion’s travail, the time when God’s elect are brought into the travail of birth is, for each of God’s elect, a set time!

Our Great Savior

Fourth, in verses 4-7 Micah speaks of the greatness and glory of our dear Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Micah 5:4 “And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.”

Christ Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, restores, heals, leads, protects, and preserves his sheep. Therefore, his glory is great in God’s salvation unto the ends of the earth (Psalms 21:1-6; 72:8-18).

(Psalms 21:1-6) “The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! 2 Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. 4 He asked life of thee, [and] thou gavest [it] him, [even] length of days for ever and ever. 5 His glory [is] great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. 6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.”

(Psalms 72:8-18) “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. 9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. 10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. 11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. 12 For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and [him] that hath no helper. 13 He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. 14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight. 15 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; [and] daily shall he be praised. 16 There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and [they] of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. 17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and [men] shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. 18 ¶ Blessed [be] the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.”

Principal Men

Micah 5:5-6 “And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. (6) And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.”

Yes, Christ the Glory-man, the God-man, whose goings forth are from everlasting, is the One who is our Peace! Christ alone is our peace. He made our peace with the blood of his cross. And he and he alone, is this peace against every Assyrian, that is, every enemy from without, or from within.

These seven shepherds, I presume are the angels of the churches, God’s faithful servants, gospel preachers, faithful pastors in every age. They are called “principal men” because they are Jehovah’s servants, God’s messengers to his elect, the ascension gifts of Christ to his people, by whom the word of his grace comes to sinners. By these shepherds the Lord God fetches his sheep from the land of Nimrod, from the land of their captivity!

The eighth Man, the eighth Shepherd, I must presume refers to that Man who is God our Savior, this Glory-man by whom all this work of grace is accomplished.

God’s Remnant

Micah 5:7 “And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.”

Notice here how God inspired Micah to speak of his people. They are called a “remnant.” So they always are a “little flock” of God’s choosing (Romans 9:27; Isaiah 10:21-22; Luke 12:32). This remnant distinguished from the world around them by Divine blessings, as Gideon’s fleece from the dry ground (Judges 6:36-38).

Now, watch this: — God’s elect, though a remnant, “as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men!”

·    They are a vast multitude!

·    Their salvation is God’s work alone!

·    It does not wait upon man!

Like dew on the ground, the work of God the Holy Ghost upon the soul is unknown, unnoticed, unperceived by the world. In fact, the very receiver of his work is for a time a stranger to the Lord’s work within him. The blessing of God’s salvation is ours before we have any consciousness of it!

And as the dew comes down in abundance on the earth, so the grace of God the Spirit comes down in great abundance on the chosen sinner!

The promise to the Lord Jesus was, that from the womb of the morning he should have the dew of his youth (Psalm 110:3). Multitudes of souls have been and shall be given to Christ, as innumerable as the dew-drops of the morning, multitudes like the pouring rain that refreshes the whole earth.

Micah 5:8 “And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.”

Here Micah simply adopts another figure to tell the same thing. In verse 7 Jacob’s remnant is passive in receiving blessings from the Lord. Here they are very active, going forth in the Lord’s strength to the Lord’s cause. Acting under the name and authority of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, “the worm Jacob is enabled to thresh the mountains” (Isaiah 41:14).

Micah 5:9 “Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.”

·      This is speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, our all-victorious Savior’s accomplishments at Calvary.

·      This is speaking the triumph of all God’s elect (Romans 16:20).

·      But, primarily, this is talking about our great Savior’s work of grace in us by his Holy Spirit as it is described in the next verses. — Omnipotent Grace! — Irresistible Mercy! — Conquering Love!

Blessed Destruction

Fifth, in verse 10-15 Micah describes God’s great work of grace in saving poor sinners as a destructive work. — Blessed destruction this is!

Micah 5:10-15 “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: (11) And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds: (12) And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: (13) Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. (14) And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities. (15) And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.

The remnant of Jacob shall be stripped of all false confidences in themselves and secured from all deceitful errors. The Lord Christ who undertakes for them will keep us from all evil and shall beat down all our spiritual foes. This is all the work of God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory-man, who...

·    Came down from Glory.

·    To perform the great work of redemption for God’s glory, revealing God’s glory.

·    That he might return to Glory.

·    And brings us up to Glory!

Jeremiah 32:37-41 — “Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: 38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: 39 And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: 40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. 41 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.”

Amen.

Don Fortner

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