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In Prince Caspian, one of The Chronicles of Narnia, Queen Lucy meets Aslan for the first time in many years:

“Welcome child”, he said.“Aslan”, said Lucy, “you're bigger!”“That is because you are older, little one”, he answered.“Not because you are?” she said.“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

How big do you think God is? How capable do you think he is in the midst of what may lie ahead for you in 2022? I’m sure you can think of many challenges on the horizon. But our passage this evening from the prophet Micah is about two big ones for us as Christians: The world around us, which can be hostile to us and the God that we love. And the sinful influences around us, which pull us away from God. And we’ll see that God (in Jesus Christ) is more than big enough to deal with both of those. So, we need his help. Let’s pray:

Lord, help us this evening to see more of King Jesus, the King who protects us from our enemies and purifies us from our sin. In his name we pray. Amen

1. King Jesus protects his people (Micah 5.1-6)

In verse one Micah is talking to Israel, God’s people back then. And this was a message for when they were being invaded by a military power, and facing defeat. Here’s what Micah says, Micah 5.1:

Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.

The situation is one of utter humiliation. God’s people are totally in the hands of their enemies. It’s an unimaginably bleak time. But Micah 5.2-3:

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labour has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.

Micah says that a great King will be born in Bethlehem, the birthplace of King David. And the people back then would have known, that long before Micah’s time, from of old…from ancient days, God promised David that his descendants (his lineage) would rule God’s people forever. So, Micah was saying, “I’m talking about God’s promised King who will rule forever! Despite how it looks now…God will deliver on his promise”. And, that’s what our faith today is built on; promises from a promise-keeping God who doesn’t give up on this people, no matter how bad things might look. And, as our New Testament reading showed us, we can have no doubt that this promised King is Jesus, who came that first Christmas to save people from their sin.

But Micah also describes Bethlehem as little, because it was a very insignificant place back then. Put it this way, you wouldn’t have been able to find it on Google Maps! And that’s how God works, isn’t it? Through what looks insignificant, unimportant, and weak:

Seek not in courts nor palacesNor royal curtains draw –But search the stable, see your GodExtended on the straw.[The Shepherd’s Carol, William Billings]

Which reminds us that God certainly can, and will, work through us for his good purposes in this new year– despite our all weaknesses, individually and collectively. Because he’s a big, and powerful, God. So, when the people looked out from the walls of Jerusalem and saw their enemies circling round, they’d have remembered Micah’s promise here. And that would have given them hope that one day God would save them from what was to come, because it was the sin of the people (for hundreds of years, and despite numerous warnings) that led God (Micah 5.3) to give them up to being conquered. So that the extent of their sin could be felt and understood. It’s a picture of how appalling and offensive sin is to God.

So, Micah was saying to the people back then, “look, things are dreadful right now, but know that one day the promised King will come to save you and protect you from your enemies”. And that’s what Micah 5.4-6 are about:

And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men; they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances; and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and treads within our border.

So, Assyria was the great military power of Micah’s day. And Micah says, that, ultimately, all the enemies of God will have to contend with a shepherd who has the strength and majesty of God behind him; the Messiah (the promised King and saviour from sins). Who we know to be Jesus Chris; God himself, who came as man. And nobody will be able to stand against him. He will bring complete security, peace and protection. (Which, I think, is what the seven shepherds and eight princes is getting at).

I read recently of Christians in southwest India who faced violent attacks from Hindu extremists in the run up to Christmas. They’d burst in and cause violent disruption, or they’d wait in groups outside Christian meetings to cause all sorts of trouble. Enemies waiting outside the walls. I wonder if you’ve ever felt like things are hopelessly bleak for you as a Christian? Maybe you feel that way right now. Maybe you’ve faced pressure, or challenge, from unbelieving colleagues. It’s hard to take a stand, it’s hard to be different. And as you look to the year ahead you worry it’ll be more of the same…Tension, difficultly, challenge…and it’s so tiring. Maybe the opportunities of Christmas with friends or family who don’t know Jesus were met with apathy, or hostility, or they just never materialised and the conversation was moved in another direction. And you don’t know don’t know where, or how, to pick things up again. Maybe you’re aware of the world circling in on Christian freedoms in this country, and you feel afraid for your future. Or maybe, like some of you who I’ve talked to, you feel afraid for the future of your children, in a world which labels Christians the ‘bad guys’.

What hope is there for persecuted Christians around the world? What hope is there for us in the challenges of the year ahead? The hope is; that however bleak our lives may look King Jesus has come and we have a relationship with him. And one day, he’ll deliver us from enemies once and for all. And in the meantime, he will keep us going – he’ll protect our faith.
And he will constantly be with us as we enjoy the peace of relationship with him. How can we know that for sure? Because he is the good shepherd. The good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep, by dying for our sins on the cross and taking all the muck of our lives on himself. That we might go free.

So, if God that first Christmas, sent his one and only son to die for you, can’t you be sure that he will, ultimately, protect you from his enemies? And can’t we be sure, as he promises, that the gates of hell itself will not prevail over his church? That doesn’t mean that life will be easy. Often it isn’t. It doesn’t mean that we don’t have to face the enemies of God. Sometimes we do. But it does mean that the promised shepherd and King is with us. And isn’t he just the kind of King we want to serve? The King who has complete victory over evil and one day will destroy it, and remove it from his people forever. And in the meantime, we walk with him and he walks with us. And, as is often said, that makes all the difference in the world.

2. King Jesus will work through and purify his people (Micah 5.7-15)

Reading from Micah 5.7-9:

Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which delay not for a man nor wait for the children of man. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver. Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off.

The remnant of Jacob in Micah 5.7 means the true people of God – those who God brought back from exile. It’s not a glorious term. This remnant was not a powerful people, but despite that, God will work through them. And he works through his people today, throughout the world. Including us. And Micah uses two metaphors to explain the impact that we will have on the world around us. For some people, we will be like dew on the grass, Micah 5.7. Dew has a life-giving, nourishing effect – we’ll bring blessing and life. But for others, Micah 5.8, we’ll will be like a lion among sheep - we’ll bring judgement and death. Paul says something similar in 2 Corinthians 2.14-16:

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

God wants us, as his people, to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For some people our aroma will be like spiritual oxygen – they’ll be drawn to Jesus and life in him. But to others it will be like the stench of death – and like a bad smell they’ll turn away. As Christians, we divide people. But really, it’s Jesus who divides people, isn’t it? Some accept him and serve him as Lord. Some want nothing to do with him at all. And, thankfully we’re not in control of the results of all of this anymore than we’re in control of dew which (Micah 5.7) waits not for man. But God wants to work through us this week, this year. He wants to work through us, for his purposes. In the office, in chats with colleagues and neighbours, at the school gate, with our family.

A while back a friend invited someone to church. And they came along, but during the service they left angrily. They’d heard the gospel, it offended them, and they said they never wanted to come again, they were completely put off. And my friend was discouraged. But he said that he was still glad they’d come, and that God has used his friendship with that person to lead them to hear the gospel. Even if, to them, it looked like it smelt like death. And that’s someone who was ready for God to use them as he sees fit – as dew, or as a lion. It was up to God. Our job is simply to do the best we can to carry the fragrance of Jesus wherever we go. And the challenge is what will that look like for you? But if God is going to work through us for his purposes, then we need to be distinctive. We need to stand out (for God) in a broken world. And that’s one reason why God wants to purify us – by taking what’s sinful away from us. Micah 5.10-15:

And in that day, declares the Lord, I will cut off your horses from among you and will destroy your chariots; and I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds; and I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes; and I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands; and I will root out your Asherah images from among you and destroy your cities. And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance on the nations that did not obey.

Look at the language here; cut off four times, destroy twice, thrown down, root out. In one way or another, God is going to tear away all sources and influences of sin and evil. And that includes his enemies. In Micah 5.15, we see that he will have his vengeance on those who have rejected him and hate his people. It’s not vengeance as we understand it (nasty, vicious, uncalled for). It’s God’s justice, and it’s what God needs to do for his justice to be done. And we can trust him with that. But what is it God wants to get rid of in his people? Looks at these verses again; their cities, and chariots, and strongholds. I.e. things they were placing their security in, when they should have been trusting a big and powerful God to protect them. And sorcery, and idols, and carved images. I.e. Substitutes for God. Because there’s only one true, and holy, God, and it offends him to include him in a cocktail of worthless idols. Maybe relationship with the true God wasn’t enough for the people. Or maybe they thought they could ‘hedge their bets’ and worship a collection of gods - that way they’d be sure to get the outcome they wanted. And so, God said he’d strip away everything they were trusting in, apart from him. Because all they really needed was him. And that’s what God is committed to doing in us today.

We’re totally forgiven when we trust the Lord Jesus. But he loves us so much that he is not content to leave us as we are. He wants all of who we are to serve him alone. Where are we tempted to place our security?
Our jobs? Our bank balance? Our pension fund? During storm Arwen I stood in my loft and watched snow and rain pour through a hole in the roof. And it was just a very small a reminder to me that you really can’t trust in stuff, can you? What often seems to provide us with security is always vulnerable and it will not last. But God lasts, and he provides lasting, eternal, security in King Jesus. What are we tempted to bow down and worship? Success? Career?
Comfort? Happiness? Relationships? Fulfilment? Power? Being well liked, or respected? Good things, maybe, but things that are not God, things that offend him when we make them more important than he is. Friends, these are things that do not pay off, that don’t satisfy, that don’t last, that we can’t bank on.

Don’t we need to see these things as they really are? And place our trust in God alone? Who’s big enough to forgive us, and care for us, and keep us going? Thank God he wants to purify us. And he’s prepared to take away and destroy anything that takes the place of him. Not so we’re left bereft, or without, but so we worship and trust what really matters. And whether in this life, or the next. He who is faithful, he will surely do it because a God bigger than we can imagine loves us. And isn’t that great news for a new year?

Lord God, we pray that we would submit ourselves into your tender care as we face the enemies of this world. We pray that you help us to remember that King Jesus has come, and he has complete victory over all forces of evil, and that he is our great hope in life, even when things look incredibly bleak. We thank you that, in one way or another – sooner or later – you will destroy all that truly harms us and our faith. And we ask that we would lay aside anything and everything that stops of us serving and worshipping you, and you alone. For Jesus’ sake.