Pat 7 - The Long Awaited King

The Place 

(Micah 5 v1-2)

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

are one of the smallest towns in Judah.

But from you will come one who will rule Israel for me.

He comes from very old times,

from days long ago.”

                                                                                                                                                                       

Although Jacob had believed the terrible lie that God didn’t love him, he also believed in God’s last promise to his great, great, great grandparents as they had left the garden. Jacob knew that God was coming to rescue his children and defeat the snake and all his lies and that one day, God would get his children back.

Because God did love them.

Even though his children doubted.

Even though his children ran away

Even though his children were lost

God still loved them.

God wasn’t done.

But God’s children continued to live outside the garden and away from him.

Always doubting,

always running,

 always lost.

God was coming back for them, but the lie was still too loud. God tried to get his children to listen to him and to trust that he was going to rescue them.

He sent people to them to tell them over and over again that he had a plan.

That he was already on his way.

That all they had to do was wait for him.

One of these people was called Micah.

Micah had lots of things to tell God’s children but one of the most important was about a place. You see, if God’s children were going to watch and wait for the Rescuer they would need to know where in the world to look.

Now God decided to send his one and only son, the Long Awaited King to a small town, in a small land, in the middle of no-where. In fact if you had looked for it on a map, you probably would have missed it completely. Which is probably why God told Micah exactly where to look it.

Micah told God’s people

“But you, Bethlehem, David’s country,

the runt of the litter—

From you will come the leader

who will shepherd-rule Israel.”

The King would be in Bethlehem. God’s children just needed to watch and wait for him to arrive. God was still chasing his lost children and trying to bring them home.

God’s children might have been running away from him

But God was right behind them.