“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
Micah 5:2
Growing up, I either recited or listened to other children recite that verse from the prophet Micah at Christmastime as far back as I can remember.
But I don’t think I fully appreciated the larger context of that memorable passage until a few years ago when one of my pastors preached an excellent sermon on it. He built the message around the incredible fact that Micah’s prophecy about the Messiah’s birth was essentially God calling his shot—definitively, concretely, so there could be no doubt that he was the one in control of all human history.
How so?
For starters, through the prophet Micah, God said that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Micah lived some seven hundred years before that first Christmas—and then God narrowed the focus of the prophecy even further. He didn’t just say that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, he said Bethlehem Ephrathah.
Why?
Well, two towns bore the name Bethlehem: Bethlehem in Zebulun and Bethlehem in Ephrathah. For God to say that the Messiah would be born in a small and insignificant town—and that over half a millennium later, it happened exactly as he said it would—is nothing short of astounding. Impossible even—by human standards.
But that’s exactly the sort of God we have: one who is fond of doing the impossible repeatedly. He worked throughout human history, using all events and circumstances to bring about our Savior’s birth exactly as he promised—not just to fulfill this specific prophecy from Micah, but to fulfill all of his prophecies about the Messiah.
What’s the takeaway?
When God speaks, we know what he says is true by the faith he has given us. Not only that, but God also shows us time and time again in his Word that everything he says is true. In love, he gives concrete examples we can look to for certainty.
Our God does not speak to us with vague generalizations that can be bent and twisted to be true no matter what, like something found in a fortune cookie. No, he concretely, definitively speaks to us in his Word.
He clearly shows us our sins—our need for a Savior—and lovingly points us to what our Savior Jesus has done to rescue us from those sins. When God says in his Word that all of our sins are forgiven, we know that we are forgiven. When he says that he loves us, we know that he does. When he promises that a home in heaven awaits us, we know that there is and that he will bring us safely there. We see that certainty in Jesus.
See the length to which our God goes to show us our Savior!
The God who comforted his people with a very specific prophecy of the Savior’s birth, calling his shot some seven hundred years beforehand, is the same God who comforts you and me through his Word. That Word—which has been handed down to us and speaks of events that happened some two thousand years ago—is ours so that we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt who we are to God and what we mean to him.
He loves you and me, dear Christian—for Jesus’ sake. How do we know? God has said it, and it is so.
If you’re seeking assurance and searching for a love that never fails, Seeing God’s Heart: The Certainty of His Love for Me is for you. Discover God’s deepest heart for you in this brief and comforting book.
Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House. He has his Master of Divinity degree from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation.
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