A Hope Fulfilled - Advent Devotionalنموونە

During the 8th century crisis in Israel and Judah somewhere between the years 739 and 722 BC, the prophet Micah of Morasheth, a small town in Judah, uttered a series of oracles about the coming judgment on Israel and Judah for their apostasy, and a vision of God's fidelity to the House of David by raising up a messianic king from the most unsuspecting of places. Micah's immediate audience was the people of Judah during the apostasy of king Ahaz. He was calling his people to repentance which involved not only turning away from evil, but returning back to the one true God. While Samaria and Judah are threatened with destruction (1:6; 3:12), it is from Bethlehem, and not Jerusalem, that the saving Prince shall arise. Although Ahaz was succeeded by Hezekiah, one of the better kings of Judah, the people of God would have to wait another 700 years before the prophecy would be fulfilled in one of David's distant descendants. In Micah 5:3, the prophet declares that the Lord will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth, something that Christians have always perceived as a promise of the birth of Jesus from the womb of Mary. This promised Messiah would, therefore, according to his human nature, be born in the city of David, ancient Ephrathah, Bethlehem, but according to His divine nature, He would be from old – from ancient of days. A Prince of His people from lowly Bethlehem and the ancient of days from the one who labors to give birth are powerful metaphors of how God brings hope to His people, not according to human timelines or preferences. "For this savior will not be a warrior, but a shepherd, and his majesty will not exalt his own name, for he will bear the name of the Lord his God" (Micah 5:4). For those who listen to and hope in God's word, Micah’s prophecy invites us to patience, and to small beginnings. For the majesty of God is often hidden from the vain and prideful eyes of man. May God give us the grace to be patient and the humility to be surprised this season.

Prayer

Oh Lord our God who remembers mercy in the midst of judgment, may we not overlook with vanity the modesty of your divine plans. May we not gaze upon idols for an immediate manifestation of the divine the way Ahaz did, but wait upon the Lord as Simeon would for the consolation of Israel. For your plans are not our plans, and your ways are not our ways. It was not in the holy of holies where the priests would find the presence of God, but in the womb of the virgin where God would choose to tabernacle, to dwell, among us. Come, Lord Jesus, and abide in our hearts this season. Amen.

John-Paul Lotz, Ph.D., serves as associate professor of Church History at the Regent University School of Divinity.