MICAH 5 - THE GREATNESS OF THE SHEPHERD AND HIS SERVICE
MICAH [p. 40] 5 - THE GREATNESS OF THE SHEPHERD AND HIS SERVICE
Isaiah said about the same time that Micah prophesied, “And a throne shall be established in mercy: and in the tent of David there shall sit upon it, in truth, one judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness”, Isaiah 16: 5. And again, “For Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah our lawgiver, Jehovah our king: he will save us”, Isaiah 33: 22. The thought of salvation is thus clearly connected with the judge, as also in Judges 2:16, 18. I believe it is in this sense that Christ is said to be “the judge of Israel”. If they had repented He would have secured to them blessing in righteousness. He would have taken up their cause on God’s behalf, and administered righteous grace to them. But they refused Him in this blessed character. “They shall smite the judge of Israel upon the cheek”, Micah 5: 1. This was really the rejection of Jehovah’s salvation by His people; and perhaps it is significant that Gentiles had part in this (Matthew 27: 30), as intimating that the Gentiles would follow Israel’s lead in this dreadful and contemptuous refusal of God’s delivering power and grace in Christ.
But the Spirit of God brings in at this point the divine greatness of the One who should come forth out of Bethlehem Ephratah, David’s city. He was, in that character, David’s Offspring, but He was also the Root of David, for His goings forth were from of old, from the days of eternity. He is the eternal God, but He came forth to rule His people as a Shepherd. He came in to take personal charge of the flock, and the remnant of Jacob became His flock, as we know from John 10. He had had to give up Israel, according to Micah 5: 3, “until the time when she which travaileth shall have brought forth: and the residue of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel”. But this did not suspend His shepherd service. That service went on amongst the sheep who were in the Jewish fold, and it has extended now to the “other sheep” who were not of that fold, but whom He has brought that there might be “one flock, one shepherd”.
“And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God”, verse 4. The Lord’s position and service amongst His own, when He was here, was unique, and their position and privilege was also [p. 41] unique. There will never be anything like it again. For He was not only Israel’s Messiah, in the most blessed relation as Man to Jehovah, and bringing all that amongst His own so as to cause them, as having faith in Him, to know its blessedness, but He was personally the Son of the Father, and His being here brought the Father’s name here, and made that name available for them. He was amongst them as the revelation of the Father, making known the Father’s name, and giving them to understand that they were to know God as Father. Our minds are so familiar with the thought that we, perhaps, hardly conceive what it was to the disciples to hear Him say, “your Father”, “thy Father”, “that ye may be sons of your Father”. No Old Testament saint had ever know God by that name, but the presence of the beloved Son with His own brought that name to them, and He kept them in it. What could only be the portion of men through redemption, and through having the gift of the Spirit, was brought hear to men so that in nearness to Him they could have something of the joy of it anticipatively, though not yet having the Spirit. This explains how the Lord could say so much, particularly in John’s gospel, that was really anticipative of the full result of His being glorified. As it has been said, the Lord did much for them which was afterwards the work of the Spirit. He led and fed His flock not only in the majesty of the name of Jehovah His God, but in the added blessedness of His Father’s name.
And His sheep were capable of appreciating their Shepherd and His feeding. For they had their origin in the Father, as He says in John 17:6, “They were thine, and thou gavest them me”, They were “his own sheep” because the Father had given them to Him (John 10: 29), and He lays His life down for them. He feeds them in a manner which is wholly divine, but which harmonises perfectly with all the requirements of their nature. Every one of the sheep is conscious of the need of pasture; the fact that the Lord says, “shall find pasture” implies that they have been looking for it. They have a different nature from those who are not the Lord’s sheep, as He said to some, “Ye do not believe, for ye are not of my sheep, as I told you”, John 10: 26. Through the sovereign working of the Father the sheep of Christ are inwardly different from all others. They answer to Christ as the disciples did when He called them. They hear His voice and know it; they know not the voice of strangers, but flee from them. Their requirements are such that only the personal service of a divine Shepherd can supply them.
[p. 42] It is wondrous to think that the majesty and blessedness of the name of His God and Father give character to His feeding His flock. We should perhaps hardly have thought of bringing that into His Shepherd service, but Micah 5: 4 suggests it. We need not be surprised that it is so when we remember that He said, “I know those that are mine, and am known of those that are mine, as the Father knows me, and I know the Father”, John 10: 14, 15. He feeds His flock in the blessedness of His Father’s name so that they may know the love of the Father to His Son, and know that they are loved in Him. We have to grow up to it by His feeding: none other than Himself could make it known to us “For all things which I have heard of my Father I have made known to you”. “All things that the Father has are mine; on account of this I have said that he (the Comforter) receives of mine and shall announce it to you”. “The words which thou hast given me I have given them, and they have received them, and have known truly that I came out from thee, and have believed that thou sentest me”. These words show how the Son identifies His own with Himself, and He feeds them by His words into the blessedness which He knows so well.
What a comfort that Micah 5: 4 adds, “and they shall abide!” Abide is a characteristic word of John’s writings, occurring about 40 times in his gospel and about 20 times in his first epistle. The sheep are brought into what is permanent. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them life eternal, and they shall never perish, and no one shall seize them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one can seize out of the hand of my Father. I and the Father are one”, John 10: 27 - 30. Those whom He feeds have the abiding consciousness of this; their blessedness is in Christ and in the Father’s love.
“For now shall he be great even unto the ends of the earth”. This verse extends the greatness of Christ far beyond Israel. At the present time it links with, “And I have other sheep which are not of this fold: those also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one flock, one shepherd”, John 10:16.
“And this man shall be Peace”, verse 5. It is not here that He makes peace, or gives peace, but He Himself is peace. The force of this seems to be that, before the enemies are dealt with, Christ Himself becomes peace to those who know Him. Wherever He comes peace comes; it was so in John 20. There is not an [p. 43] anxious thought or a fear in the heart of Christ, and He says, “These things have I spoken to you that in me ye might have peace”. And this was after telling them that those who killed them would think to render service to God! Peace is as much for us in Christ as righteousness or salvation. Before the prophet speaks of the Assyrian coming he gives this blessed word, “and this man shall be peace”. And it is what He is at this very moment; it is there in Him for all His own. In the scripture before us it is given to qualify the flock to meet the Assyrian, who in the prophets is the last enemy to come up against Jerusalem, Daniel’s “king of the north”. I believe that Assyria as a type represents the violence of men against God and His Anointed; Babylon represents corrupting influences. So the two original characters of evil, violence and corruption, will be headed up in Babylon and Assyria. Babylon will be destroyed before Assyria. There can be no doubt that violence will specially mark the closing period of this age. The beast makes war with the saints and overcomes them; Revelation 13:7. At the present time the Assyrian represents what is definitely opposed to God and to His people, which would take an active form if not restrained by God. But in the meantime, before God deals with it in judgment He meets it in a remarkable way.
“Then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight princes of men”, verse 5. This is a very beautiful touch. The enemy is to be met by shepherds and princes; literally, anointed ones. That is, he is definitely in this book as the Shepherd. “Princes of men” are those who can move in the dignity of the anointing. Such are God’s great power against the Assyrian. It is in keeping with God’s design, made known elsewhere, to still the enemy and the avenger by the praises of babes and sucklings, Psalm 8. God meets the violence of men by the Spirit of Christ; let us ever remember this.
Then the remnant of Jacob gets an extended mission as dew from Jehovah, as showers upon the grass; verse 7. They will go out to bring the refreshment of what Jehovah is to many peoples. It is a gentle influence, corresponding in character with the personal service of Christ, but carried on by His Jewish brethren far and wide in the Gentile world. And it is to be noticed that it is the persons themselves who are the dew and the showers. They are personally permeated with what they have been fed upon by their Shepherd, so that wherever they go there is dew and rain. It is not what they say, but what they are, which brings the [p. 44] divine refreshing. It does not wait for some change in man, or in the sons of men. It is just itself, and it falls with subduing power wherever it goes. And this is the place and abiding service of the saints today; we may not have gift or great human ability of any kind, but we can be true to what we are as having the Spirit of Christ. And people will be tested by how they regard it, just as the presence of Christ’s brethren will test all the nations in a coming day; Matthew 25: 31 - 46.
There is another and a very solemn side. The dew of grace rejected becomes a lion; verses 8 and 9. The remnant of Jacob will have this character also. They will destroy their enemies, as many scriptures show. This is because they can only have their promised portion on earth by the destruction of those opposed to them. Hence they pray for this in various Psalms, which is sometimes a difficulty to those who do not understand the difference between an earthly people and those called to heavenly blessing. The partakers of the heavenly calling know that they are to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, to be for ever with Him. But the portion of an earthly people can only be secured to them by their enemies being destroyed. Our enemies are spiritual enemies, and they have to be destroyed by spiritual power and spiritual weapons. Human or natural strength is of no avail in this conflict, nor, indeed, will it be in Israel’s battles. They will have to prevail by divine power alone. Verses 10 - 14 of our chapter show that God will not allow His people to use what is merely natural power in His conflicts.