Thru the Bible

Steve Shwetz: Future glory because of past promises. That's what we're learning about as our study in the Old Testament book of Micah continues here on Through the Bible. I'm Steve Sweets, welcoming you aboard the Bible Bus. Our teacher, of course, is Dr. J. Vernon McGee, and we're learning about one of the most remarkable prophecies in the Old Testament. That is of the first coming of Christ in Micah 5:1 and 2. But first, here's an introduction by Dr. McGee recorded some years ago about the United States and prophecy.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Before we get into our study proper, I want to give a preliminary study that ought to be helpful to us in this section that we're coming through now in Micah. We believe that by careful and considered interpretation of prophecy that conforms to a systematic interpretation of all scripture, we can find an application of prophecy that is a warning to the United States. It's not by some hair-brained superficial view or some wild-eyed sensational scheme of prophecy designed to satisfy the curiosity of the many, and neither would it be an oversimplification of prophecy. We believe but by a systematic interpretation, and we are prepared now to look at the evidence that is a definite warning to our nation.

The United States is not in prophecy. We want to repeat that again and again. No scripture that speaks specifically of the United States. If great distortions have been made to come up with that interpretation, but no sound science of hermeneutics would permit that at all. And hermeneutics is the science of the interpretation of the Bible. Now, God does judge all nations. They are responsible to him. The scripture makes that very clear. He's the judge of all the earth, and he'll do right. Now, he judged Egypt. He judged Babylon. He judged Edom. He judged Assyria, and he judged Greece and the Greco-Macedonian Empire and also the Roman Empire.

And also he judged his own people, Israel and Judah. And we've seen in this little prophecy that Micah here condemns violence, corruption, robbery, covetousness, gross materialism, spiritual bankruptcy, illicit sex, pride, bribery, and idolatry. All of these that he condemns. And that was the condemnation of all these other nations. Now, we as a nation today are guilty of these same sins that brought down other nations. The United States has flagrantly committed these same crimes against God. Can we escape? Are we God's little pets in the United States? We're such nice people that God's going to let us get by with it.

I believe that when we consider the sins that God judges and sees that nation as guilty of these identical sins, and that means our nation today, God will judge the United States. I believe that only a turning to God today, real revival can save and spare our nation at this time. These sins that the other nations were guilty of, violence, many of them were guilty of that. The days of Noah was days of violence. Well, friends, this is a day of violence that you and I live in today. The cavemen never did anything as wicked as we're doing.

Steve Shwetz: We'll hear more from Dr. McGee about corrupt politicians, sexual immorality, and the great sin of pride in our next study. In the meantime, to explore this topic a little further, visit ttb.org where you'll find several resources by Dr. McGee on the subject of prophecy, including our Bible companion on the Book of Revelation. Again, the address is ttb.org or call 1-800-65 Bible if we can help you find it. Let's pray and then let's get to our study. Heavenly Father, as we quiet our hearts and set aside this time to hear from you, please speak to us and help us to cultivate a greater love for you as we hear each word in Jesus' name.

Amen. Here's Dr. McGee with more in our continuing study of Micah on Through the Bible.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, friends, as we come to the fifth chapter here, we have a new subject. It's the prophecy now of the first coming of Christ. We looked in the last chapter of the prophecies of the last days. Now, we have here the prophecy of the first coming of Christ, which is before, of course, the second coming and the setting up of the kingdom. Now, this first verse that I want to read probably belongs to the last chapter. And in the Hebrew Bible, it is part of the last chapter. And I frankly do not know how it got over into the fifth chapter.

I do not believe that it should be here. Now, it reads, now gather thyself in troops, oh daughter of troops. He hath laid siege against us. They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. Now, last time, you remember we saw that he described beginning at verse nine of chapter four, the Babylonian captivity. And then he projected that right on down to the last days. That is to the great tribulation period and the war of Armageddon. And this last verse of this section now goes back and I think is identified with the Babylonian captivity.

In fact, the very end of that captivity, and the reference here is not to the Lord Jesus. Actually, there are those that take that position that he's mentioned here in verse one that they'll smite the judge of Israel with the rod upon the cheek. Well, you'll find that when you read the gospel record that they smote him with their hands, and it was not a foreign power that did it, but it was his own people the night that he was arrested and taken, you will recall to Caiaphas's judgment hall. And that's where they beat him actually in the face so that this does not refer to the coming of Christ, the first time when he was so mistreated.

There are other passages that do refer to it, but not this. It obviously refers to the end of the Davidic kingdom at that particular time. That is up to the Babylonian captivity. And if you should go over into the 25th chapter of Second Kings at verse seven, you would read this, and they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with fetters of brass and carried him to Babylon. Now, I think the reference is that it's certainly applicable to him, and it denotes what looks to be the very end of the Davidic line.

But Zedekiah was not in the direct line. You will recall that when they came to the very last, Jehoiakim rebelled against the king of Babylon. In fact, he stood against him at first. Then the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, took him into captivity. And then Jehoiachin was put on the throne. And actually, what happened to him, he was carried, we're told, in Second Kings, the 24th chapter, verse 15, and he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon. And the king's mother and the king's wives and his officers and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Now, the Davidic line was carried into the captivity, and out of that line there came both Joseph and Mary as peasants later on. But what you have here is Zedekiah, for he was an uncle of Jehoiachin. And it was Nebuchadnezzar that put him on the throne. And when he rebelled, then Nebuchadnezzar's tired of fooling with the line. And so he takes Zedekiah, slays all of his sons before his eyes, then puts out his eyes, takes him into Babylonian captivity. Now, you might assume from that that that would be the end of the Davidic line, that the prophecies made to David and those that the prophets had spoken of again and again that there's one coming in David's line.

So you'd feel like that can't take place now. So that brings us to a verse that's in contrast to all of this. Verse two of chapter five of Micah. But and that little conjunction there now is a turn about, right about face. This is the other side of the coin. But thou, Bethlehem, in spite of what happened to Zedekiah and his line, the Davidic line was already in captivity. They became peasants. And now there is coming the Messiah. And where is he coming from? But thou, Bethlehem 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.

Now, this is the part of the Christmas story. And it seems a very inappropriate time for a Christmas message, does it not? But we are going to have one that is we're certainly going to be able to sing oh little town of Bethlehem. And it seems very inappropriate that we've come to it, but we have. It's sort of like wearing a straw hat in a snowstorm in Chicago in January or wearing an overcoat in August in Houston, Texas. It's just out of place. Or it's like wearing a bikini at the North Pole in February. Or it may be like wearing a bearskin down at the equator anytime of the year.

Well, may I say to you that this is something that probably is a little out of form, but the Bible doesn't frown upon it because here's where we've come and here's what the word of God has to say. And I think probably we could make a correction here without being an extremist. Actually, Christ was not born on December the 25th. I'm sure we can be almost sure of that. They try to identify it with the winter solstice is the way that it got into the calendar. But I'm not sure that that is it. He probably was born in the spring because in December the shepherds would not be out on the hillside with their sheep.

They would be in those caves along that entire area. And actually, whatever date that you're listening to it, we're nearer the date of his birth than we are in December the 25th. But we don't want to split hairs about that. I personally think that this is a good time to look at the Christmas story. Christmas, I think, needs to be stripped of all of its heathenism, and the accretions of time have added the accessories of paganism to it. And probably we're prepared to look at the birth of Christ without bells and bunting and tinsel and the tawdry, the crowds and the clamor, and actually a Christmas without a Santa Claus.

Well, Micah, you will remember, was a contemporary of Isaiah. And we have seen there've been many parallel passages. Someone has said Micah is an abridged edition of Isaiah. And among these very wonderful prophetic passages is this reference to the birthplace of Christ. And it's almost a casual reference, but the emphasis is put in the New Testament. It's remarkable that after this prophecy was given that 700 years later it would come to pass. Now, very frankly, it's not that Bethlehem was chosen to be his birthplace. That would be normal. It was the birthplace of David. It was his place.

It was where the family of David originated. So you might expect that the Messiah would be born there. But the thing that makes it remarkable is that under the circumstances with what happened in verse one, Zedekiah with his eyes put out, carried into Babylonian captivity, and already the family of David is down there in captivity and slavery. Now, how in the world will there be one born in the line of David to sit on the throne? Well, he says, but thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah. Now, the thing that makes Bethlehem very interesting is this, that though it is the hometown of David, the proper place for a king to be born, and most of David's line were born in Jerusalem.

That was the capital city. But this one is to be born in Bethlehem, David's city, if you please. How in the world could that come to pass? And Matthew puts together four prophecies that are totally unrelated. He's to be born in Bethlehem. That seemed out of context because there was to be weeping in Ramah. And Ramah's north of Bethlehem. And he's to be called out of Egypt. And how in the world will he get down to Egypt to be called out of Egypt and he's to be called a Nazarene evidently because of the manner of life he lived.

But he'd have to get that name by living in Nazareth at this time. So how in the world can you put all that together? Well, Matthew tells the story without any strain on circumstances. All of these things came together normally and naturally. But let me change that and say supernaturally. God was over ruling. Now, Bethlehem just wasn't the place. But though it be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that's to be ruler in Israel. Now, the one that he promised to David and the one that the prophets took up as the theme song of the Old Testament that there's coming one in the line of David to sit upon the throne of David.

And that he would do certain things for this earth that no one else could do. And we're going to have to see that later on in this chapter which we won't be able to cover today. But will you note it? He says, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that's to be ruler in Israel. Now, this is the strange language. Listen to this. Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. He's to come out of Bethlehem. A little may I say it without being irreverent? A little jerkwater town, a whistle stop south of Jerusalem.

Some say six miles, some 10. I personally think that six miles is probably nearer, more accurate. But out of Bethlehem he's to come. But notice who it is. His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Now, this is to be a remarkable baby. Now, the contemporary of Micah was Isaiah. Isaiah clarifies this. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a child. And then he had something more to say about this one by the way. Isaiah 9:6 for unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And by the way, we always abuse that at Christmas time.

We think us means the United States. US is United States. Under us a child is born. That's not the way Isaiah's speaking. He didn't even have the United States in mind, didn't even know about it, and didn't know about us. And the ones he's talking about is unto us, the nation Israel. A child is born. Now, the child is born. That's his humanity. But unto us a son is given. He's not born. Why? Because he is the one that comes out of eternity. He is the one from all eternity. May I say that the psalmist had something to say along this line of who he was.

In Psalm 90:2 before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. From everlasting. And the Hebrew's very vivid from the vanishing point in the past to the vanishing point in the future, thou art God. Just as far back as you can go, and you can go any farther and you're thinking, well, he's God. He'll come out of eternity to meet you. And as far as you want to go into eternity. So what Micah's saying here is of tremendous significance. He says he's born in Bethlehem about 1,900 years ago now.

But his goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Who is he? Well, from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. That doesn't end it, friends. We have more on this. Over in the eighth chapter of Proverbs, and you'll recall that when we were looking at both the passage in Psalms and Proverbs, we called attention to this. He says here, verse 23 of Proverbs 8 I was set up from everlasting. Now, actually the word set up is anointed. I was anointed from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth.

When there was no fountains abounding with water. Before any creation, he's God. Yet in the creation he came to a little out-of-the-way place, a little town called Bethlehem. And you might get it mixed up with another Bethlehem that was farther north. And he identifies this one, Bethlehem Ephrathah, David's city, where David was born. But he's to come out of this place. But his goings forth have been from of old, even from everlasting. Now, may I say therefore, this becomes extremely important when you begin to move over into the New Testament. And actually, I come back to the date again that the December date is highly unlikely because there's been the juggling of the calendar intervals to begin with.

Dionysius in 532 AD set up a calendar which is a reasonable facsimile of the one we have today. And even he miscueed on the number of days in the year. And that's the reason we get a leap year in every now and then. And he tried to rectify that. That is others tried to rectify that in 1752 and jumped the calendar ahead 11 days. And George Washington was not born on February the 22nd. Actually, he's born on the 11th. And you cannot be sure Jesus was born on December the 25th even if all the other circumstances would fit into it.

And this idea that they have saying I believe in observing the Sabbath day, how do you know which is the Sabbath day by the way? But actually it's not important. The time of the year is immaterial. The place is all important. He was born in Bethlehem. And that's the historical fact. And it has been authenticated by history. Micah picked the place 700 years before the birth of Christ. And it's not remarkable that he'd choose Bethlehem. The miraculous feature is that 700 years later after the giving of the prophecy with so many intervening events, there was little likelihood that one in the line of David could be born there.

It's entirely out of the question. The odds were against it. None of the family of David were living any longer in Bethlehem. They were scattered. The dispersion had driven them from the land. And now one family's up under Nazareth. Yet Bethlehem must be the place according to Micah. And that was the sole basis of this prophecy that the wise men were directed by the scribes to Bethlehem. They quoted from Micah because they believed that that would be the place. They just didn't believe it was being fulfilled at that time. Well, I see our time is up.

We'll have to leave off right there, but we'll pick right up there next time. And until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Shwetz: Did you know that there are several hundred prophecies that speak of Christ's first coming? It makes you wonder why the people of Israel weren't more prepared for him. You know, Dr. McGee wrote about this in his booklet Right on Time, expecting Jesus then and now. And that's just one of more than a hundred of Dr. McGee's booklets that you're going to find for free download at ttb.org. Visit us, won't you? And check them out yourself. And while you're there, take a look at our Bible Bus flash drive. It's got all of Dr. McGee's five-year teaching plus more than a hundred of his booklets and his entire collection of notes and outlines for our studies.

It's perfect for taking your study of God's word on the go or for sharing with a friend. Just plug it into a USB port on any computer, and you got the bulk of our library right at your fingertips. The flash drive, well, it's available over at ttb.org or call 1-800-65 Bible and we'd be happy to get it out to you. And when you're in touch, why don't you ask about our Bible Bus passes? I love these things. If you've ever wanted to share through the Bible with a friend or someone you met but you don't know how to say it or where to go, just these little cards have exactly what you want.

Well, the Bible Bus rolls on in our five-year study of God's word. I'm Steve Sweets, and I'm looking forward to hopping aboard with you next time.

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