Saturday, December 9, 2017

eschatology, Prophecy of Christ's Birth (Micah 1-7)

The book of Micah has an amazing prophecy about Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, which is where king David was born.  Jesus, the Son of God, is part of the Trinity, so He is eternal.  Jesus is God!!!  To be able to die for everyone's sins for all times - Jesus had to be 100% God and 100% man - therefore He was born of the Spirit through a virgin birth.  Interesting note:  Bethlehem means "House of Bread" and Ephrathah means "fruitful"... 
 (Micah 5:2-3)  “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.  His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.”
Therefore He will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has borne a child.  Then the remainder of His brethren will return to the sons of Israel.

When Jesus was born and the Israelites rejected Him as their King, their Jewish Age was halted.  There are seven years left.  At some point in the future the Jewish Age will continue to its completion - this being the Tribulation.  The judgments during this time period are the signs of Jesus' second coming - at the end of the seven years - at the battle of Armageddon...
 (Micah 4:9-13)  “Now, why do you cry out loudly?  Is there no king among you, or has your counselor perished, that agony has gripped you like a woman in childbirth?
10 Writhe and labor to give birth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in childbirth;  for now you will go out of the city, dwell in the field, and go to Babylon. there you will be rescued;  there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
11 “And now many nations have been assembled against you who say, ‘Let her be polluted, and let our eyes]gloat over Zion.’
12 “But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, and they do not understand His purpose;  for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
13 “Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, for your horn I will make iron and your hoofs I will make bronze, that you may pulverize many peoples, that you may devote to the Lord their unjust gain and their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

Jesus will have the victory, and will cut off all evil from the earth for a thousand years...

(Micah 5:4-15)  And He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.  And they will remain, because at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth.
This One will be our peace.  When the Assyrian invades our land, when he tramples on our citadels, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight leaders of men.
They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, the land of Nimrod at its entrances;  and He will deliver us from the Assyrian when he attacks our land and when he tramples our territory.
Then the remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on vegetation which do not wait for man or delay for the sons of men.
The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which, if he passes through, tramples down and tears, and there is none to rescue.
Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries, and all your enemies will be cut off.
10 “It will be in that day,” declares the LordThat I will cut off your horses from among you and destroy your chariots.
11 “I will also cut off the cities of your land and tear down all your fortifications.
12 “I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you will have fortune-tellers no more.
13 I will cut off your carved images and your sacred pillars from among you, so that you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands.
14 “I will root out your Asherim from among you and destroy your cities.
15 “And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath on the nations which have not obeyed.”

Then all people who became believers during the Tribulation, which will include many Israelites - will accept Jesus as their King, who will lead them into the Millennium, a thousandths years of peace and blessings...
 (Micah 2:12-13)  “I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel.  I will put them together like sheep in the fold;  like a flock in the midst of its pasture they will be noisy with men.
13 “The breaker goes up before them;  they break out, pass through the gate and go out by it.  So their king goes on before them, and the Lord at their head.”
(Micah 4:1-8)  And it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains.  It will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it.
Many nations will come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us about His ways and that we may walk in His paths.”  For from Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
And He will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations.  Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks;  nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war.
Each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
Though all the peoples walk each in the name of his god, as for us, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.
“In that day,” declares the LordI will assemble the lame and gather the outcasts, even those whom I have afflicted.
“I will make the lame a remnant and the outcasts a strong nation, and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on and forever.
“As for you, tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come — even the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.
(Micah 7:11)  It will be a day for building your walls.  On that day will your boundary be extended.
 (Micah 7:14-15)  Shepherd Your people with Your scepter, the flock of Your possession which dwells by itself in the woodland, in the midst of a fruitful field.  Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.
15 “As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt, I will show you miracles.”
 
 (Micah 7:18-20)  Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?  He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love.
19 He will again have compassion on us;  He will tread our iniquities under foot.  Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will give truth to Jacob and unchanging love to Abraham, which You swore to our forefathers from the days of old.

Today's takeaway:  meanwhile, we are to seek the Lord with all our heart - for personal salvation - and then to trust in Him as our Truth, Righteousness and Justice...
 (Micah 7:7-10)  But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord;  I will wait for the God of my salvation.  My God will hear me.
Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy.  Though I fall I will rise;  though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.
I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me.  He will bring me out to the light, and I will see His righteousness.
10 Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?”  My eyes will look on her;  at that time she will be trampled down like mire of the streets.
We might wonder why justice is not swifter, but we must have faith that God will take care of all things in His perfect timing.  To watch and "wait" for Him requires faith!...

(Hebrews 11:1-3, 6)  Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible...
 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him

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