Reflective Bible Study

As we move forward in our year looking at Old Testament prophecies that point forward to Jesus, we come to one that draws our attention onto the place where Jesus would be born. In a fascinating way, from one of the least assuming prophets in the Old Testament, we find a prophecy about the Messiah coming from one of the least significant locations in all of Israel and Judah.

This prophecy is found in the book of Micah, in chapter 5, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 2, Micah writes prophetically:

² “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity.”
³ Therefore He will give them up until the time
When she who is in labor has borne a child.
Then the remainder of His brethren
Will return to the sons of Israel.
⁴ And He will arise and shepherd His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.
And they will remain,
Because at that time He will be great
To the ends of the earth.

In these few verses, we discover how it seems as though God chose Bethlehem because it was small to be the birthplace for the Messiah. From the way Micah describes the Messiah’s birthplace, I get the picture that God likes to draw focus onto places and people that others could easily overlook.

However, in an even more amazing turn of events, more than just Bethlehem, the place prophesied to be the birth location of the Messiah, turns out to be God drawing attention to the otherwise non-glamorous.

Jumping forward into the New Testament, to the time of Jesus’ birth as recorded in Luke’s gospel, chapter 2, we read a short summary of Jesus’ birth. Staring in verse 4, Luke tells us that:

⁴ Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, ⁵ in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. ⁶ While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.

From the way Luke describes Mary and Joseph, I don’t get the impression that anything about this young couple was special or significant on the surface. While Mary plays a key role in Jesus’ entry into this world, had she not been chosen for this task, I doubt anyone would have even remembered her beyond a generation or two outside of her family tree.

However, because God chose to use this couple when deciding to step into history, Mary and Joseph are forever remembered in the timeline of history. God likes to elevate the otherwise unknown, and place them in His spotlight.

Moving to Jesus’ birth event in Matthew’s gospel, we discover how this prophecy was known by those at the highest levels of the Jewish faith, because as we will read in a minute, the religious leaders in Jerusalem voluntarily provide the information to Herod about where the Messiah would be born.

Reading from Matthew, chapter 2, starting in verse 1, we learn that:

¹ Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ² “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” ³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:

⁶ ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah;
For out of you shall come forth a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”

In this amazing event, not only do we find travelers from the east, possibly from Babylon or somewhere in that region coming to celebrate the birth of the Messiah, but we also have the religious elite of that generation appearing to be completely unaware that anything significant was happening.

The reason this is significant in my mind is that these religious leaders openly, willingly, and without any hesitation tell Herod the location of the Messiah’s birthplace. If these religious leaders believed the time of the Messiah’s birth to be imminent, then I would suspect that they would have been a little less open sharing this information with someone who was known for openly killing any potential opposition. Herod had the reputation for killing first and then asking questions later, and as we will uncover in a later prophecy and podcast episode, what begins in this portion of Matthew ends with a miracle tucked within a tragedy.

However, stepping back to the big themes of this prophecy, I cannot escape the truth that God likes to use and draw attention to people, places, ideas, and things that are easily overlooked by others. While the logical location for the Messiah’s birth would be in Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel and Judea, this is not what happened.

The wise men who came looking for Jesus may have suspected that Jesus would be born in Jerusalem, or they may have traveled there simply because they didn’t know exactly where the star they were following would take them. In their minds, I suspect that since the star appeared to be taking them towards Jerusalem, they may have believed that Jerusalem would either be the place they would find the Messiah, or that Jerusalem would be the place where they would learn where they could ultimately find the Messiah.

Everything in Jesus’ birth story shines the light on what otherwise would be normal and insignificant. In our own lives and stories, while God is capable of using us for great things, more often than not, any and every great thing He uses us for will be built on the foundation of the simple, ordinary, not-glamorous habits that simply draw us into connection with Him.

However, just because our lives might not be spectacular, and our spiritual habits may at times won’t feel significant or special, we can trust that God has not forgotten us, and that His timing is best from eternity’s perspective. God loves to shine the spotlight on the ordinary when the ordinary has been laid on a foundation He can use!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open these challenges by saying, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to focus on growing closer to Him using the simple, not glamorous habits of prayer, reading your Bible, and listening. While sometimes it may feel as though God’s silence means He is also absent, this could not be further from the truth. God is always with us whether we feel like He is or not, and we open our hearts to His when we open our lives to His Word.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself, because God wants a personal relationship with you. For your relationship with God to be personal, don’t let others step into the role of middle-men. Instead, let other people share ideas with you, then bring these ideas to God in prayer and study and allow Him to lead you into His truth.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving through Luke’s gospel, we discover that after Luke describes Jesus’ childhood, Luke then transitions back to talking about Jesus’ forerunner in ministry, John the Baptist. However, to set the stage for the rest of his gospel, Luke gives us a historical overview of the state of the empire and the state of Judea by letting us know exactly when the events in the rest of his gospel occurred.

Let’s read this passage, and discover how Luke sets the stage for Jesus beginning His ministry. Our passage for this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 3, and we will read from the New Living Translation. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us that:

¹ It was now the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea; Herod Antipas was ruler over Galilee; his brother Philip was ruler over Iturea and Traconitis; Lysanias was ruler over Abilene. ² Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. At this time a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness. ³ Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. ⁴ Isaiah had spoken of John when he said,

“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
    Clear the road for him!
⁵ The valleys will be filled,
    and the mountains and hills made level.
The curves will be straightened,
    and the rough places made smooth.
⁶ And then all people will see
    the salvation sent from God.’”

⁷ When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? ⁸ Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. ⁹ Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ The crowds asked, “What should we do?”

¹¹ John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”

¹² Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?”

¹³ He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.”

¹⁴ “What should we do?” asked some soldiers.

John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”

¹⁵ Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah. ¹⁶ John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹⁷ He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.” ¹⁸ John used many such warnings as he announced the Good News to the people.

In this passage, we discover that John was not a pushover preacher, but he also was not a judgmental preacher either. John’s preaching cut straight to the heart of God’s message and intent for His people.

While reading Luke’s description of John’s message to the people, three verses stood out in my mind and these three verses together paint a powerful picture of what God’s ideal is for those who want to turn away from sin and return to Him.

A surface reading of John’s preaching might make John sound like the first angry street preacher. However, John’s message is different. John subtly assumed something about those who came to listen to him that might be easy to miss if we aren’t paying attention. In verse 7, when the crowds of people came to John to be baptized, John challenges them by calling them snakes before saying, “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?” John assumed that those coming to listen to him and those who wanted to be baptized were coming because God was drawing them to him. I doubt John responded well to passive listeners to his preaching.

At the heart of John’s message was a message of returning to God before it was too late. While John might sound extreme in what he challenges the people by saying, nothing John tells the people is impossible or outside of God’s will. John’s message is summarized with two phrases found in verses 8 and 9, “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God…Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

When asked by specific people what God would want them to do, John has a clear, practical response. In John’s response to those present, we discover that God desires to see compassion for others above saving for the future, about working honestly and uprightly even if we are in a work environment that is full of corruption, and to be content with what God has blessed us with.

This summary is found in John’s response to the crowds, the tax collectors, and to the soldiers who asked what God wanted from them. If we choose to live lives that are defined by showing compassion for others above saving for our own future and lives that are lived honestly while also being content, then we will be living lives in alignment with John’s message to the people. Living like John describes proves to the world that we are living for God and not for ourselves and that we have repented.

The last phrase I want to focus briefly on in John’s message is found in verse 17. After describing that the Messiah God is sending will baptize the people with fire while he only baptizes with water, John brings a visual illustration into this warning, saying the coming Messiah “is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”

While some people understand the fire in this verse to literally never end, as this translation frames this idea, a better way to describe it would probably be an unstoppable fire. This fire is reserved for the chaff which was separated from the wheat. While some might consider this illustration describing different groups of people, with one group representing the wheat and another group representing the chaff, there is a different way we can understand this illustration.

On a stalk of wheat, there is grain and there is chaff. The grain is useful while the chaff is not. In our own lives, there are things that are valuable and things that are valueless. When we return to God, I believe He wants to separate the valuable parts of our lives from the valueless parts of our lives. God wants to redeem the parts of our lives that are significant, important, and special, while He wants to completely remove and eliminate the parts of our lives that are worthless.

The challenge for us then is to align ourselves with God and let Him work in our lives discarding the things that He knows are worthless. If we want to hold on to something that God is planning on throwing into the unstoppable fire, we run the risk of choosing to be consumed by the fire with something that is worthless. While God won’t stop us from making this choice, God is much more interested in helping us give up the things in our lives that are worthless from eternity’s perspective.

John the Baptist warned the crowds about the coming judgment, but far from being judgmental, John challenged people to return to God before it was too late! While we don’t have to be as forward or direct as John was, let’s live our lives in a way that proves we have returned to God and in a way that doesn’t let any worthless things in life steal our focus away from that which is priceless. The most valuable thing God has blessed us with is our hearts, and while our hearts are stained with sin, God wants to clean, fix, and recreate new hearts within us that reflect His heart for us!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and purposefully give your heart to Him. Let God clean your life and discard what He knows is worthless while letting Him redeem the things in your life He knows are valuable. God knows your life better than you do, and God has a plan for your life that is bigger than you could ever imagine! Discover what God has in mind for you by letting Him lead and direct your life moving forward into the future.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow and discover what God wants to teach you. Through the pages of the Bible, discover how we can open our hearts to God and invite Him into our lives!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!