Sermon -- Advent Vespers, Week 3 (December 17, 2025)

PROPHECIES PINPOINT THE MESSIAH:

He Is The Child Of Bethlehem.

MICAH 5:2-5a

In the name + of Jesus.

    As we make our way through the Old Testament, the prophecies continue to pinpoint the Messiah.  The focus gets narrowed down from the Seed of the Woman to the Seed of Abraham to the Son of David.  A significant amount of the world’s population no longer can qualify to be the promised Messiah.  Our options are limited more when we consider what God promises he will do or what will be done to him.  In Psalm 22, David wrote, “They divide my garments among them.  For my clothing they cast lots” (Psalm 22:18).  Isaiah had prophesied, “They would have assigned him a grave with the wicked, but he was given a grave with the rich in his death” (Isaiah 53:9).  Again, David declared in Psalm 16, “You will not abandon my life to the grave.  You will not let your favored one see decay” (Psalm 16:10). 

     Therefore, just from these few prophecies, the Messiah has to be one whose garments were divided up and loot which was gambled for.  If he was assigned a grave, that means he died.  His grave had to be given to him, and it had to be done by a rich man.  But the grave did not remain his abode.  If his life was not abandoned to the grave, then it was restored to him.  In fact, to fulfill prophecy, his body could not even see corruption.  For anyone to be the Messiah, all of these prophecies and more had to be fulfilled.  Every word which was foretold of the Messiah finds its fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth. 

     The prophecies pinpoint the Messiah.  They enable us to identify without a doubt who it is who comes to save us.  Someone who studies probabilities crunched the numbers to tell us the likelihood of one man fulfilling a list of 31 specific prophecies.  Here are the results: “Imagine that someone takes the earth and hollows it out and starts filling it with dimes.  He would need to fill 10 earths full of dimes to represent all of the chances associated with these prophecies.  Next let us paint one of the dimes red. Now, the probability that one person fulfilled all of these prophecies by chance would be the same as one blindfolded person picking that one red dime the first time” (Source: https://www.neverthirsty.org/about-christ/prophecies-about-christ/probability-of-fulfillment/).  God does not foretell all of these things to impress us with the odds.  Prophecies are given so that we rightly identify the promised Messiah.  Every word which was foretold of the Messiah finds its fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth.  Prophecies pinpoint the Messiah.

     You have been raised in the Christian faith, so none of this comes as a shock to you, although it should.  Words that were written hundreds of years before the events took place describe those events perfectly.  And they are not vague promises, either.  The Lord did not say, “There will be a man, and he will do amazing things.”  That could have been Alexander the Great, George Washington, or Neil Armstrong.  Our Lord is specific in his promises.  They could not have been fulfilled by accident.  Prophecies pinpoint the Messiah.

     This gives us some idea about St. Paul’s preaching when he entered synagogues.  The Bible records this, “As was his custom, Paul went to the Jews, and on three Sabbath days he led them in a discussion from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead.  He also said, ‘This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ’” (Acts 17:2-3).  To prove that Jesus is the Christ Paul demonstrated that everything which was foretold about the Messiah was fulfilled by Jesus.  First Paul presented the promises; then Paul proclaimed the words and works of Jesus.  He used prophecies to pinpoint the Messiah. 

     We have the benefit of hindsight.  We consider the prophecies, and we can see that they have all been fulfilled.  But what if we went back in time?  How easy would it have been, as the events were unfolding, to recognize: “This is the Messiah”?  The prophet Micah helps by narrowing our focus even more.  This is what Micah had foretold.  “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, from you, will go out the one who will be the ruler for me in Israel.  His goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2). 

     Everyone has a birthplace.  You can go to the Sheboygan County Courthouse and find a record of my birth in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.  Although Bethlehem would not have had a courthouse with birth records, they did have a special promise recorded.  The Messiah would be born there.  And to be more specific, Micah identified Bethlehem Ephrathah as the birthplace.  That is because there was also a Bethlehem in the tribe of Zebulun in the north.  Again, the Lord was not vague in his prophecy.  The Lord could have said he would be born in Israel or in southern Israel or near Jerusalem.  Instead, the Lord pinpointed the very place the Messiah would come. 

     Micah acknowledged, “Bethlehem, …you are small among the clans of Judah,” (Micah 5:2).  In some instances such as in the King James Version, the word “clans” has been translated “thousands.”  This refers to a military grouping.  A platoon of one thousand would be under the command of one leader.  Bethlehem was too small to produce a thousand.  Since Bethlehem was a little, po-dunk town, that limits even more the number of people who could qualify as the Messiah.  Prophecies pinpoint the Messiah.  He is the child of Bethlehem.

     We might be impressed that the birthplace of the Messiah was announced about seven centuries in advance.  And it is, indeed, impressive.  But Micah also proclaims a mystery which is much more astounding.  This Messiah would have a birthday in Bethlehem, but “His goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2).  If his origins are from eternity, then he who was born in time is also begotten from eternity.  This is a great mystery. 

     If you were to go to the Sheboygan County Courthouse and look up my birth record, you would see that I did not exist in 1965.  I had a beginning date to mark my life.  The Messiah also had a birthdate, being born in Bethlehem at a specific time.  Before that time, the Messiah existed only in regard to a promise.  And yet, Micah also says that he has existed forever.  Since there is no one who is eternal besides God, the child of Bethlehem is God.  Prophecies pinpoint the Messiah.  He is the child of Bethlehem, and he is eternal God. 

     Micah assures us that the Messiah is the Savior we need.  He is the child of Bethlehem.  He is one of us.  He entered the world through a birth canal.  He lived in our flesh.  He grew in wisdom and stature.  He learned to work with his hands as a carpenter’s apprentice.  He knew a world of callouses, sore muscles, and splinters.  He lived under the watchful eyes of Roman soldiers and experienced tear-filled eyes as one who had to bury his father.  He was subject to the commandments of God.  He is like us in every way, a perfect man who serves as our perfect substitute—a man who comes on behalf of mankind.

     This man is also the eternal God, which enables him to serve as the substitute for all mankind.  He did not live for himself alone, but he is the righteousness of all mankind.  He did not die for himself.  In fact, he was not deserving of death because he was without sin.  Neither the Jews nor the Romans had a valid reason to execute him.  And God the Father had no reason to damn him.  But he took up our sins, the righteous one suffering and dying on behalf of the unrighteous.  The innocent one was convicted and condemned so that the guilty could go free.  And he knew what he was getting into.  He had the words of the prophets which had foretold all that he would suffer.  Sabbath after Sabbath, Jesus read about the cup of God’s wrath which he would drink down to its dregs—all for evils he did not do and we did.  The prophets had foretold it, and Jesus fulfilled it.  He is the mediator between God and man, for he lives in both camps.  He has secured terms of peace.  He has reconciled us to God.

     Prophecies pinpoint the Messiah.  He is the child of Bethlehem, but he did not come just for Bethlehem.  He is the Son of David, but he did not come just for the house and lineage of David.  He is a true Israelite, but he does not limit his salvation to Israel.  The prophet Micah said, “He will stand and shepherd with the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.  They will dwell securely, for at that time he will be great to the ends of the earth” (Micah 5:4).  If his reign extends to the end of the earth, then his salvation and his grace extend to all mankind.  Therefore, you dwell securely in his care.  For he is a faithful shepherd who preserves his flock in the face of every enemy.

     Shortly before our Lord Jesus endured his passion, he prepared his apostles for the sufferings they would endure for his sake.  He was not vague.  He specifically warned them that they would face threats, trials, beatings and even death.  These would come from family and friends, from religious leaders, and from kings.  He told them, “I have told you now before it happens so that, when it does happen, you may believe” (John 14:29).  The apostles should not have been surprised when they faced what Jesus had said.  The prophets of old foretold the work of the Messiah for the same reason—so that when it happened people would believe.  Many regard the Old Testament as ancient history which serves us no purpose anymore.  But these were written so that you would believe all that God promised, and so that you would be confident about all that Jesus has fulfilled. 

     Prophecies pinpoint the Messiah.  As surely as God’s promises were fulfilled, just as surely God’s love is on display through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  You get to live under God’s peace, confident that your eternity will be spent with the Lord.  The eternal God entered our time so that when our time on earth ends, we will dwell eternally with him.  This is a specific promise, and Jesus will fulfill it, too.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.