Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Third Sunday in Advent – Series on Micah 

Scripture:  Micah 2: 12-13; 5: 1-5                       Dec. 17, 2023

Message: “The Shepherd of the Sheep!”  by Pastor George Gnade

Intro.: 1. So far we have learned from Micah 5: 1-3 how Jesus would be born in Bethlehem and how He would become a great king. Today we would like to consider the prophecy in Micah 5:4 that Jesus would also be like a caring shepherd.

a. It says: “He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord…”

b. Christmas will always be remembered for the shepherds who were out in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night. 

2. Why did the angels specifically pick out shepherds?  I think it happened that way because Jesus was born as the chief shepherd, sent to care for God’s sheep. That is what our message will be about today.

A. Please consider the context in which this prophecy was made.

1. When you study Micah 5:1-5 in the light of the rest of this book, this prophecy about Jesus becoming the chief shepherd of God’s people makes perfect sense.

a. In a previous message, I told you Micah preached during the reigns of Ahas and Hezekiah , kings of Judah, who reigned between 740 B.C. and 680 B.C. and how Micah’s ministry overlapped the ministry of Isaiah.

b. Both of them were calling the people to repent of their sins. Both were predicting how God would punish them because they refused to listen. 

2. One of the best examples is found in Micah 2: 11 where  God says: “If a liar and deceiver comes and says: ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer, he would be the perfect prophet for these people.” 

a. In plain words, all they wanted was the pleasures of the flesh. They did not want the truth. As a result, God had to punish them because He cared about their souls.

b. But like a seesaw that goes up and down, so both prophets shifted between the bad news and the good news.

3. In Is. 7:14, Isaiah shared the good news about the virgin birth.  It says: “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call His name Emmanuel which means God with us” (Is. 7:14). That was God’s way of giving His people hope.

4. In the same way, after Micah 1:1 – 2:11 predicted all the horrors that would soon come upon the Jews and how they would be taken into captivity, in Micah 2: 12-13, he suddenly switches and predicts the good news.

B. Consider the good news:

1. In Micah 2: 12-13, God says: “I will surely gather you…and bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in the pastures…” and like a shepherd He “will open the way for them” and “their king will pass through before them” for “the Lord will be their head.” 

2. Doesn’t that sound a lot like Ps. 23! The “remnant” are those who repent and want to follow the Lord. He will find them wherever they have been scattered and free them wherever they have been taken and will lead them back into His fold.

a. Remember Jesus’ parable about the lost sheep and how their shepherd went looking for them and found them and, if necessary, even carried them on his shoulder back to the 99 who had already been found (Luke 15: 3-7).

b. This shepherd who was to come was Jesus.

3. That is the context in which Micah 5: 1-5 was written.  In this context, we are told in vs. 2 -5 that the One to be born in Bethlehem would not only come as their king, He would also come as their shepherd.  

a. “But you Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me One who will be the Ruler over Israel…”

b. While “Israel would be abandoned” and be without a king for a long time, in God’s time “she who is in labor will give birth… He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord…” (Micah 5:4).

4. Of course, Jesus openly claimed to be that shepherd. In John 10:27, He said: “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me and I give unto them eternal life and no one shall pluck them out of my hand.”

a. When the angel appeared in the sky on the first Christmas, he told the shepherds how the baby to be born in Bethlehem would be their Savior, even Christ the Lord.

b. God reinforced this prophecy in Micah 7:14-20.

C. Let us consider that passage for a few minutes.

1. Addressing the coming shepherd, in vs. 14 He is told to “shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance.”

a. We are Jesus’ flock. We are His inheritance.  The shepherd’s job was to feed and care for the sheep. In vs. 14, it goes on to say God’s Shepherd would lead them into “fertile pastureland.” Of course, that is what God promised us in Ps. 23. 

b. “The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul…” 

2. But the shepherd’s job was also to protect His sheep. 

a. Ps. 23 continues: “Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because you are with me. Your rod and your staff will comfort me.”

b. In fact, a good shepherd would even fight for his sheep.  Remember how David killed a lion and a bear while protecting the sheep of his father. 

3. Jesus said a hired shepherd, who didn’t care about the sheep, would often run away and protect himself. But a good shepherd would even give his life for his sheep. 

4. That is what Jesus came to do for us. In John 10:11, Jesus said:  “I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd lays down my life for the sheep.” 

a. But the enemy of God’s sheep was far greater than a lion or a bear. Their enemy was Satan himself. The Bible calls him “a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.”

How could the Good Shepherd save us from the devil himself? 

b. The devil is called the accuser of God’s people. He loves to point out all our sins and demand that God punish us. In John 10:10, Jesus calls him a “thief who comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy.” But quickly adds: “I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly.”

5. We all know how Jesus did this. He allowed Satan to put Him to death on the cross. In so doing, Satan lost his hold on us. Because Jesus died for us, the penalty for all our sins was paid in full by our Shepherd.  We have all been offered God’s forgiveness and everlasting life. 

a. Isn’t that the good news promised by the angel, “that unto you is born this day in the city if David a Savior who is Christ the Lord (Luke 2: 10-11)?

b. Listen to Micah 7:18. “Who is a God like you who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever, but delight in showing mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl our iniquities into the depth of the sea.”

c. In Ps. 103: 10-11, the Bible explains it this way. “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

6. Please notice that in Micah 7: 14 we were called “the flock of His inheritance.” In vs. 18, we are called the “remnant of His inheritance.” Throughout Scripture “the remnant” always refers to those who choose to come to Him and follow Him like sheep following their shepherd.

a. In John 10:27, Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and no one can pluck them out of my hand.

b. In Ps. 23:6 it says: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

In conclusion: Praise God that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and that He came to be our king. But praise God Jesus also came on that first Christmas to be our caring Shepherd.