Micah 5:2 - Homiletics

The nature of the Messiah's rule. That is to be Ruler in Israel.

In the first verse Micah had spoken of the failure of earthly rulers. "The judge of Israel should be smitten with a rod upon the cheek." The rulers who had so lamentably failed in their administration should come to nought, but there should rise up in the time appointed "a King to reign in righteousness," and who should establish a kingdom which should never be moved. Unfortunately, however, in the Jewish mind, the nature of this kingdom took a visible shape; and they anticipated that the Messiah should establish a kingdom which should be marked by regal splendour and worldly power. Hence, when he appeared, the appeal was made to him to free them from paying tribute to Caesar ( Matthew 22:17-22 ); to sit in judgment, and to settle disputes ( Luke 12:13 ; John 8:2-11 ); and they sought to take him by force, and to compel him to set up his throne ( John 6:15 ). And it is easy to understand how that, cherishing these mistaken notions, the Christ of God became an enigma to them; and that, disappointed in the course he pursued, they turned aside from him, cherished hostility towards him, and even cried, "Away with him! crucify him!" But, for all this, in the spiritual sense predicted by Micah and others, he was the true King of Israel, and his claim can be fully vindicated. He was "Ruler in Israel" in a far higher and nobler sense than David and his successors had ever been the sovereigns of the people. The functions which Jesus declined to fulfil were, after all, the lesser and inferior functions of the King of Israel. The higher functions were those which the Lord God himself had fulfilled in relation to the Jewish nation, and before that nation in the pride of its heart had demanded an earthly ruler. God had been their King. David and his successors were but Jehovah's deputies, and were appointed by him to discharge the lesser and secondary functions; but them were higher functions, which Jehovah alone had fulfilled. It was he who by his appointment and power had separated that people from among the nations, and it was he who of his infinite wisdom framed those Divine laws by which the people thus separated were to be governed, and in obedience to which they were to find happiness and security. And Christ Jesus became in the highest sense "the Ruler in Israel," in that he came to gather a people to his praise out of the wreck and ruin sin had wrought among the nations, and to give them that Christian law of rectitude and righteousness, of mercy and love, the embodiment and perfecting of all previous revelations, and in following which there should be experienced the truest peace and the most abiding joy. He came to set up on earth "the kingdom of heaven" and to establish amongst men a Divine and heavenly rule. His is not a kingdom of the senses, but of the spirit; it consists not in "meat and drink," but in "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" ( Romans 14:17 ). He is "the Ruler," and the principles of his rule are such as, finding a lodgment in the heart and drawing the soul to him in loving loyalty and devotion, renders it true and good, holy and happy. And all that is needed in order to render the world sin has blighted bright and blessed, is that his rulership be universally acknowledged and his reign be established in every human soul.

"Hark the glad sound, the Saviour comes,

The Saviour promised long;

Let every heart prepare a throne,

And every voice a song."

Micah 5:2 (last clause)

The eternal goings forth of the Christ of God.

"When he says his beginnings are from the beginning, from the days of antiquity, he shows his pre-existent nature, as when he says he will go forth as Ruler to feed his people Israel he shows his temporal birth" (Chrysostom) "Going forth is here opposed to going forth—a going forth out of Bethlehem to a going forth from eternity; a going forth which then was still to come, to a going forth which had been long ago, from the days of eternity. The word expresses pre-existence, an eternal existence backwards as well as forwards, the incommunicable attribute of God" (Pusey, in loc .). The expression here naturally leads us to think of the words with which St. John commences his Gospel ( John 1:1 ). We can offer no explanation as to how this could be. We fully acknowledge the difficulty, and which lies within the Divine nature itself. We bow before the mystery. "God is great, and we know him not." Reason is baffled when it inquires concerning the Divine Personality; but where reason cannot penetrate, faith can reverentially and tranquilly rest. And certainly the Prophet Micah here, and the Evangelist John in the prologue to his Gospel, claimed no more for the Messiah than the Christ claimed for himself (comp. John 6:62 ; John 8:58 ; John 17:5 , John 17:24 ; Revelation 1:8 ). This eternal Son of God is presented to us here in his Divine manifestations; for the seer speaks of "his goings forth. "

I. TRACE THESE " GOINGS FORTH ." We may do so:

1 . In creation. In view of his oneness with God, this is declared to have been his work ( John 1:3 ; Colossians 1:16 , Colossians 1:17 ).

2 . In providence. In feeding the Old Testament in its allusions to the Divine care exercised over eminent saints of God, we find a Divine exalted Personage occasionally referred to as manifesting himself to such—to Abraham ( Genesis 18:1-33 .); to Jacob ( Genesis 32:24 , Genesis 32:30 ) to the Israelites through Moses ( Exodus 23:20 , Exodus 23:21 ); to Joshua ( Joshua 5:13-15 ). There are insuperable difficulties if we simply regard these as angelic ministries expressive of the Divine care over the good as the God of providence. It would not have been said in reference to any angel, "Provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions;" nor would any mere angelic intelligence have accepted the adoration of Joshua, but would have said, "See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant," etc. ( Revelation 22:9 ). The most reasonable conclusion is that these were the "goings forth" in providence of the pre-existent Son of God.

3 . In grace.

II. CONNECT THESE " GOINGS FORTH " WITH WHAT WAS PREDICTED HERE RESPECTING THE ADVENT OF CHRIST . As we behold him in his eternal existence and glory, Creator of all things, the Giver of life, the Imparter of light, manifesting himself in all the departments of the Divine operation; and then think of him as condescending to the limitations and conditions of our humanity, humbling himself to "the poor manger" at Bethlehem, and "the bitter cross" at Calvary, we are filled with wonder; yet love also inflames and inspires our souls. With profoundest gratitude and holiest joy we raise our carols. As we think of him as "the Ancient of days" and also the Babe of Bethlehem, our hearts are drawn to him, and we are impelled to adopt as our own the strain of Micah's great contemporary Isaiah, and to sing exultantly, "For unto us a Child is born," etc. ( Isaiah 9:6 ).