What Are You Expecting?

Micah 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are the smallest town in Judah. Your family is almost too small to count, but the “Ruler of Israel” will come from you to rule for me. His beginnings are from ancient times, from long, long ago.

Would you mind if I asked bluntly today … what’s going on in your heart in this time leading up to Christmas? Where are you at? What are you expecting? What are you hoping for?

Leading into that first Christmas (although it wasn’t called that back then) Israel’s expectations were mixed. Since their return from exile in Babylon in 518 BC, they’d been an occupied territory for all but a hundred years during the Maccabean revolt of around 164 to 63 BC.

At this point in their history, they wanted their God finally to deliver them from the brutal Roman occupation; they wanted a Saviour, a Messiah, just as He’d promised them centuries before. But … that was the problem.

God had gone quiet. He hadn’t spoken to Israel through any prophets for centuries. What was going on? When would the Messiah come?

Weren’t they God’s chosen people? But God had a plan … though His plan was so different from theirs.

Micah 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are the smallest town in Judah. Your family is almost too small to count, but the “Ruler of Israel” will come from you to rule for me. His beginnings are from ancient times, from long, long ago.

God’s plan was to birth an unexpected Saviour in an unexpected place. Though He’d been silent for centuries, the Lion was about to roar … but He’d enter the world as a lamb – a baby in a stable.

It’s not what they expected. But He was far greater than they could ever have imagined. God sent Jesus, the Saviour of the world, for them. God sent Jesus, the Saviour of the world, for you.

That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.