Church Write-Up: Looking Beyond David

At the LCMS Advent service this week, the pastor preached about Micah 5:2: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (KJV).

The pastor talked about how many want to get “back to basics.” Judahites in Micah’s day longed for someone like David. The problem is that many romanticize the past, when the past was pretty scary and bad when they were experiencing it. And even if the past was good, we cannot go home again. According to the pastor, Micah calls the Judahites to look prior to David, towards one whose going forth has been of old: the promised seed who would crush the head of the serpent, as he is hurt by him (Genesis 3:15). King Ahaz of Judah is called to rest in God rather than power politics. Although Micah encourages his audience to look beyond David, the pastor said, David was still relevant to what he was saying. David was the least of his brothers, and Micah 5:2 affirms that his town, Bethlehem, was little among the thousands of Judah. Yet, God brought forth David from what is small. Similarly, God has worked in unexpected ways, using Jesus’s crucifixion to save us.