Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Wednesday - Micah 5 - The First & Second Advent of Christ

  
W
E might imagine at times that these old prophets spoke only of obscure history & about even more obscure events yet future. Such is not the case. Micah 5:1-2 gives us distinctly Messianic prophecies that relate to the salvation of our own souls. The events are presented in what may seem to us to be a strange sequence, but the separation that we now understand was not visible at all to Micah. Messiah's revelation was surely seen as 1 event in Micah eyes. But, Christ’s conquest of this world is chronological & progressive. We could divide it into soul, spirit and body; judicial, practical & final; crucifixion, conquest & kingdom.

The smiting of the judge of Israel upon the cheek must clearly be a reference to the trial, condemnation & crucifixion of Jesus Christ at His first advent (vs. 1).  Also included is the location of the birth of the Messiah, His resurrection & exaltation, as well as an allusion to His deity (vs. 2). The remainder of the chapter seems to be an address that primarily concerns the Millennial Kingdom again. If Christ is standing in the earth, displaying His full majesty, then we must conclude that this refers to His second advent (Micah 5:4).

One of the chief indicators of which time period we are looking at here comes from the references to the Assyrian in Micah 5:5 & 6. If the Assyrian is the Antichrist, then obviously his conqueror will be Christ. Of course, we know that there were more immediate fulfillments of this conquest from "the land of Nimrod" as both the Assyrians and the Babylonians came from that area. And, we can read of some of Israel's exploits in captivity when we read the books of Esther, Daniel or even Nehemiah (vs. 8). However, once we get to verses 9 & 15 and the total defeat of Israel's enemies, we must look at the second advent of Christ.

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