W
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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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