Monday, December 17, 2007

Anticipating Christmas again

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
are only a small village among all the people of Judah.
Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you,
one whose origins are from the distant past.
The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies
until the woman in labor gives birth.
Then at last his fellow countrymen
will return from exile to their own land.
And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
Then his people will live there undisturbed,
for he will be highly honored around the world.
And he will be the source of peace.
--Micah 5:2-5 (NLT)

Christmas is coming again, so I posted this prophecy, written roughly 700 years before the birth of Jesus. Maybe this sounds like Jesus would be a military leader, but maybe the "enemies" that the people have been abandoned to are themselves--their own sin.

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