BETHLEHEM IN PROPHECY

"Now you are walled around with a wall . . ." (Micah 5:1). Part of the security wall that Israel has erected near Bethlehem to discourage terrorism. That the wall has created economic hardship for Palestinians is true. However, Israel did not put up the wall to hurt Palestinians, but for self defense. If the Palestinian culture cannot produce enough positive peer pressure to stop the terrorism, then the wall has to exist.

"But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for Me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days" (Micah 5:2). This scripture is quoted again in Matthew chapter 2 when the wisemen from the east who had followed the star inquired of Herod where the King of the Jews had been born.

"But some asked, 'Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said the the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?'" (John 7:41-42).

One of the great evidences for the inspiration and credibility of scripture is fulfilled prophecy. Micah prophesied of the birth place of the Messiah about 700 years before Christ. The Messiah was expected. Serious students of scripture knew where he would be born; they could not, however, accept the humbleness of his birth and life. The main door to the Church of the Nativity is so short that even a short person has to bend over to get in. That is why it is called the "Door of Humility."(The Church of the Nativity is the traditional site of the birth of Jesus Christ.) The humbleness of the birth, the life and the death of Jesus was not what a Messiah should be, from the Jewish perspective, and that is why he was rejected by the Jews of his day.

Jesus was rejected as Messiah because he did not fit the preconceived notions of what a Messiah should be. Our prayer should always be, "Father God, help us to see Jesus as he is, not as we want him to be."

Grace&Peace,

Tom