Unlikely Origins
December 20, Third Friday of Advent
Light first (Hope) and second (Peace) purple candles, then pink (Joy) candle
Billy Graham was born in November 1918 to hard-working dairy farmers in North Carolina, and raised to love and fear the Lord. From these admittedly humble beginnings and a willingness to obey God’s call on his life came a globally recognized ministry through which Billy was privileged to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people all over the world, from farmers like his family to mill-workers to successful businessmen to presidents and royalty. God’s word was spoken through Billy Graham in humble sincerity to millions over the decades. Of himself he often admitted, “I am not a great preacher, and I don’t claim to be a great preacher . . . I’m just communicating the Gospel in the best way I know how.”
God seems to take special delight in using those of unlikely origins to do His amazing work. Scripture includes a whole host of examples: Abraham, Moses, David, Gideon, Ruth, Micah. But it’s not just people of humble beginnings that God uses; He also surprises us by the places that are important to Him, like Bethlehem in Judea.
Read Micah 5:2-5
The prophet Micah came from a small, insignificant town in Judah. He was not from a prominent family, yet was a skilled orator, masterfully using metaphor and vivid imagery to communicate with his audience. A contemporary of Isaiah, Micah also prophesied during the tumultuous and contrasting reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. As we learned in Week 2’s Advent lessons, Ahaz was one of the worst kings of Judah ever, behaving just like the kings of Israel in the northern kingdom. Ahaz went so far as to sacrifice his own son in the fire to Molech. Can you imagine being the one called to speak truth to Ahaz?
Micah had something to say in response to this deluded form of worship in Micah 6:6-8. Judah questions how they should come before the LORD God. What would please Him? Burnt offerings, yes, but what is appropriate and enough? Year-old calves? Thousands of rams? Ten thousand streams of oil? And what should I give to pay for my sins? My firstborn child? How do they go from sacrificial animals and oil to their own children? These people understood the transactional approach to sacrifice and deities, or thought they did. If they could just find the right sacrifice that would appease Yahweh…in verse 8, Micah conveys the simplicity of what please God:
“Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you:
to act justly,
to love faithfulness,
and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
Bethlehem Ephrathah
Few prophets saw the future more clearly than Micah, especially concerning the birth and birthplace of the Messiah. Ephrathah was the ancient name for Bethlehem and was a mere five miles from Jerusalem, up the rolling hills of the Judean countryside. Not only was Micah an unlikely prophet, Bethlehem was an unlikely location for all of the sovereignly appointed things that happened there.
We read in Genesis 35:16-19 that Jacob/Israel’s beloved wife, Rachel, died while giving birth to their second son, Benjamin and was buried on the way to Ephrath. When Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land, each tribe received a land inheritance, with the exception of the Levites, as they were to care for the Tabernacle and later the Temple and would be cared for by the other tribes. After Solomon’s reign, the kingdom was divided into two kingdoms - North and South. The Southern Kingdom comprised the land of Ephraim, Benjamin and Judah, but as time went on, the area came to just be known as the land of Judah. The region of Ephraim’s inheritance came to be known as “Ephrathah.
Bethlehem was where Naomi, her husband Elimelech, and their two sons were from. During a great famine in Judah, the family fled to Moab, where the sons both married Moabite women. After husband and both sons died untimely deaths, Naomi and daughter-in-law Ruth returned to Bethlehem empty-handed. Ruth meets their kinsman redeemer, (a close family relative) whose name was Boaz. Ruth and Boaz marry and have a baby boy named Obed, who has a son named Jesse, who has a son named David. That’s right, the shepherd, musician, poet, and warrior, King David was born in Bethlehem!
Other than that, Bethlehem was a small, seemingly insignificant village a day’s easy walk to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was where the action happened, including regular worship and sacrifice to Yahweh in the temple. Yet God’s plan for the birth of HIs Son, the Messiah, was a smaller, more intimate place, out of the way, highly unlikely.
Jewish scholars of Jesus’ day would have read: “Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me. His origin is from antiquity, from ancient times.” Micah 5:2 is a prediction of Messiah’s birthplace, as unlikely a choice as David was for king generations prior.
In fact, when the wise men came to worship the new king of the Jews and King Herod asked the chief priests and scribes where the Christ would be born, they did not hesitate with their answer, “In Bethlehem of Judea,” and then they proceeded to quote the prophet from unlikely origins, Micah.
Reflect on how God accomplishes His work through unlikely people. How has He perfected your inabilities, brokenness, and lack of enough to make a difference in your world and the world? He delights in pouring His power into our littlest and our least and our inadequacies and failures and creating something amazing.
Sing all four verses of Joy to the World:
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n, and heav’n, and nature sing.
Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love
Pray for God to build in you the confident humility of Micah, able to speak the truth of the Gospel to any and all.
Blessings,
Gay B Brown