December
22, 2003
THE
ONE TO BE RULER
"But
you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me
the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from
of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2, NKJV).
Bethlehem
of Judah, also called Ephrath, was the birthplace of David,
and the place where Rachel, Jacob's wife, died and was buried
(see Genesis 35:19). The Jews recognized this prophecy to
be Messianic, and in response to Herod's request as to where
the Messiah was to be born, they quoted this passage in Micah
(see Matthew 2:3-6).
Micah
clearly proclaims the preexistence of the One to be born in
Bethlehem who would become the Ruler in Israel. The "goings
forth" of Christ reach to eternity in the past and to
eternity in the future. "In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in
the beginning with God. All things were made through Him,
and without Him nothing was made that was made... And the
Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth (John 1:1-3, 14). From the days of eternity the
Lord Jesus Christ has been one with the Father.
Some
Jews were questioning Jesus and He said to them, "
'Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it
and was glad.' Then the Jews said to Him, 'You are
not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?' Jesus
said to them, "Most assuredly,
I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM' " (John
8:56-58). "Silence fell upon the vast assembly. The name
of God, given to Moses to express the idea of the eternal
presence, had been claimed as His own by this Galilean Rabbi.
He had announced Himself to be the self-existent One, He who
had been promised to Israel, 'whose goings forth have been
from of old, from the days of eternity' " (Desire of
Ages, pp. 469, 470).
"The
angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the
house of David. The Virgin's name was Mary. And having come
in the angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favored one, the
Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!' " (Luke
1:26-28). The story of Joseph and Mary and the birth of Jesus
is recorded in the first and second chapters of Luke. Joseph
and Mary were dwellers among the hills of Galilee. How could
the Promised One be born in Bethlehem?
Here
again, God in His own way and time fulfilled the prophecy
through Caesar Augustus, ruler of Rome. "And it came
to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be registered... So all went to
be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went
up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea,
to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he
was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with
Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child... And she brought
forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes,
and laid Him in a manger" (Luke 2:1-7).
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