He Shall Shepherd His Flock in the Strength of the LORD

Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men (Micah 5:1–5 ESV)

Our lives today are consumed by the things we think we need. But this actually keeps us from seeing the one thing we need the most–Jesus Christ.

As Micah 5 opens, Judah was under assault from Assyria, i.e., Nineveh, not too long after the northern kingdom of Israel had been destroyed by them. Hezekiah is king. While a good king, frustrated by Assyrian rule, he attempted to overthrow Assyria’s rule with his own strength. As a result, God allowed Assyria to invade Judah and lay siege to Jerusalem. 

God tells Hezekiah to muster its troops, but he doesn’t have the troops to meet this challenge. He had tried to do it on his own. Now where must he turn? 

Beyond where he would normally look. To a small, seemingly insignificant city, Bethlehem. To the city of David. To a new King that would rise from there.

But this King would not rule as Hezekiah, or we, would expect. He is a king who hangs on the cross. Israel’s salvation comes from Bethlehem, from the cross. It’s strength will come from weakness.

Christ is the answer that Hezekiah didn’t know we needed. And at some point in our lives, neither did we. And even as Christians today, too often we still forget that we need Him. But we do.