The Coming Shepherd-King

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:06.320 Well, let's turn in our bibles turn our attention to Micah chapter five. 2 00:00:12.310 --> 00:00:38.649 Micah five. I'll reread through verse six Micah Chapter Five. Now Muster your 3 00:00:38.689 --> 00:00:43.450 troops, oh daughter of troops. Siege is laid against us with a Rod. 4 00:00:43.729 --> 00:00:48.130 They strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. But you, oh 5 00:00:48.250 --> 00:00:54.200 Bethlehem e a Eratha, you are too little to be among the clans of 6 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:57.759 Judah. Or sorry, let me start that again, but you, oh 7 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:03.750 Bethlehem Efratha, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah. 8 00:01:04.510 --> 00:01:10.230 From you shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in 9 00:01:10.390 --> 00:01:17.269 Israel, who's coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore, 10 00:01:17.469 --> 00:01:21.700 he shall give them up until the time when she who is in Labor 11 00:01:21.780 --> 00:01:26.099 has given birth. Then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people 12 00:01:26.180 --> 00:01:30.459 of Israel and he shall stand and and shepherd his flock in the strength of 13 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:34.849 the Lord, in The Majesty of the name of the Lord Has God, 14 00:01:34.489 --> 00:01:38.890 and they shall dwell secure. For now, he shall be great to the 15 00:01:38.969 --> 00:01:46.010 ends of the Earth and he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes 16 00:01:46.049 --> 00:01:49.200 into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will rise against him 17 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:55.040 seven shepherds and eight princes of men. They shall shepherd the land of Assyria 18 00:01:55.599 --> 00:02:00.159 with the sword and the land of Nimrod at its entrances, and he shall 19 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:05.269 deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and treads within our 20 00:02:05.349 --> 00:02:10.389 border. May God bless the reading of his word he may be seated. 21 00:02:23.500 --> 00:02:29.060 So here in Mica, Chapter Five, we have one of the great prophecies 22 00:02:29.219 --> 00:02:40.409 concerning the birth of our Lord, this promise that from Bethlehem, who is 23 00:02:40.729 --> 00:02:46.639 too little to be among the clans of Judah, shall come forth this great 24 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:52.879 shepherd king. In some ways, that saying that that way shepherd king is 25 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:58.319 really I'm saying the same thing twice, because the imagery of the shepherd is 26 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:04.229 often used to describe kingship in the old and the new testaments. The shepherd 27 00:03:04.310 --> 00:03:07.349 is the one who controls, the shepherd is the one who guards, who 28 00:03:07.389 --> 00:03:12.939 protects, who keeps in this imagery between a shepherd and the flock is often 29 00:03:13.020 --> 00:03:19.180 used in the Old Testament to speak of kings, and that is that language 30 00:03:19.180 --> 00:03:23.740 is being used here as well. God will raised up one who will stand 31 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:28.449 and shepherd the flock in the strength of the Lord, and this shepherd is 32 00:03:28.610 --> 00:03:36.050 going to feed a Syria with swords, he is going to come against Nimrod, 33 00:03:36.129 --> 00:03:42.479 he is going to create hope for God's people. Now, all this, 34 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:46.280 of course, comes in a context. The context is, of course, 35 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:50.719 that Israel, God's people, as we have been learning from Micah, 36 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:54.560 have sinned, and sinned grievously. The judge, for example, in verse 37 00:03:54.710 --> 00:04:00.110 one, that is struck on the cheek by by Israel's enemies is a judge 38 00:04:00.150 --> 00:04:06.469 who has been unfaithful, judges and leaders in Israel who have not shepherded God's 39 00:04:06.509 --> 00:04:12.419 people as he has called them to do, but instead has devoured his people, 40 00:04:12.580 --> 00:04:17.500 instead, has sought their own ends and their own benefit, instead of 41 00:04:17.980 --> 00:04:26.410 I'm serving the Lord and serving his flock. Nevertheless, this is yet this 42 00:04:26.610 --> 00:04:30.050 is both judgment and shame upon them and upon the people. To be struck 43 00:04:30.170 --> 00:04:36.970 on the cheek is a sign of dishonor of disgrace, and also abuse. 44 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:44.759 This is what is coming against them. a siege is laid against them, 45 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:51.439 the Assyrians and then the Babylonians. Later, as signified by Nimrod, there 46 00:04:53.310 --> 00:04:59.110 are going to come against God's people and this is going to be a terrifying 47 00:04:59.790 --> 00:05:04.149 time. Mike has prophesied about this in various ways. He's speaking or spoken 48 00:05:04.189 --> 00:05:10.740 of how Jerusalem will be raised down to the ground, where what ones was 49 00:05:10.779 --> 00:05:17.220 a great city would become a low a wilderness again. This is going to 50 00:05:17.339 --> 00:05:25.129 be a dark and difficult a time. Verse Three describes this time as a 51 00:05:25.250 --> 00:05:28.610 time of labor. I'm like a woman in Labor. There is going to 52 00:05:28.689 --> 00:05:31.529 be sorrow, there is going to be paying, there is going to be 53 00:05:32.449 --> 00:05:44.839 struggle as God's people suffer under this weight of God's judgment. This is what's 54 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:53.550 coming a for them. But right alongside of these promises of judgment our notes 55 00:05:53.629 --> 00:06:00.470 of hope, promises of hope that from the most insignificant, the most unlikely 56 00:06:00.509 --> 00:06:10.180 places, God will raise up salvation. A Bethlehem is characterized here is one 57 00:06:10.259 --> 00:06:14.860 who is too little to be among the clans of Judah. I preached on 58 00:06:14.980 --> 00:06:19.730 this once before this passage a few years ago, and I listened to that 59 00:06:19.810 --> 00:06:24.970 again to make sure I didn't sort of sail the same things again. Well, 60 00:06:25.170 --> 00:06:27.970 what are the analogies that I gave there, which I will give again, 61 00:06:28.129 --> 00:06:31.250 is you know, sometimes when you draw a map, you you don't 62 00:06:31.290 --> 00:06:39.040 necessarily label every single thing right. You choose to be selective, depending on 63 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:43.399 the nature of your map. If you named every single thing, it would 64 00:06:43.399 --> 00:06:46.870 be overwhelming and unreadable. So sometimes you leave stuff off, and the stuff 65 00:06:46.870 --> 00:06:53.110 you leave off the map is the stuff that's unimportant, too little to be 66 00:06:53.269 --> 00:06:59.949 named. Bethlehem is nowhere's villa. Really. It's not any important city. 67 00:07:00.069 --> 00:07:02.939 In fact, is hardly mentioned in the Bible, only in a couple places 68 00:07:03.060 --> 00:07:08.620 really, in addition to here and Jesus's birth. But in those places it 69 00:07:08.779 --> 00:07:15.850 is always marked as a place of unimportance from which very important things come to 70 00:07:15.170 --> 00:07:23.089 things really first, King David. It is to Beth Lehem that Samuel, 71 00:07:23.170 --> 00:07:26.889 the Great Prophet, goes, and he goes to Jesse, Samuel's father, 72 00:07:27.410 --> 00:07:33.480 and to find what the King of Israel to find this shepherd who will shepherd 73 00:07:33.639 --> 00:07:39.240 God's flock, who will replace Saul, who has been unfaithful, and who 74 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:46.949 will lead Israel into the establishment of this country in Canaan. He is going 75 00:07:46.990 --> 00:07:55.230 to fulfill the mission of Joshua and of Moses. And Jesse goes and he 76 00:07:55.550 --> 00:07:59.459 is directed, or is Samuel goes and he's directed to Jesse's house, and 77 00:07:59.980 --> 00:08:05.740 Jesse brings out his son's and Samuel goes through each of them and no, 78 00:08:05.379 --> 00:08:11.019 no, no, no, no. And finally he says, do you 79 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:15.610 have any more? None of these are the future king, and Jesse says, 80 00:08:15.649 --> 00:08:18.129 well, yeah, I've got one more. But he's what? He's 81 00:08:18.410 --> 00:08:26.490 unimportant, he's the littlest one, he's taking care of the sheep. He 82 00:08:26.610 --> 00:08:30.519 calls in David, and indeed David is the Lord's anointed and so David in 83 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:35.360 many ways is like the city that he's from. He's unimportant, he's low, 84 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:39.759 he's insignificant, he's not very powerful. And yet what does God do 85 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:43.990 with this boy? One of the first great stories, of course, is 86 00:08:45.029 --> 00:08:50.230 him facing off this giant, this giant Philistine Goliath, this great enemy of 87 00:08:50.309 --> 00:08:54.980 the Lord, who comes like the Assyrians and the Babylonians do, comes and 88 00:08:56.179 --> 00:09:01.740 comes against Israel, and David, as a great shepherd of Israel, as 89 00:09:01.779 --> 00:09:07.019 a great King of Israel, though he is insignificant and small, he defeats 90 00:09:07.100 --> 00:09:13.250 Goliath. He defeats Goliath not because of his size, not because of his 91 00:09:13.850 --> 00:09:18.889 strength, but because he stands in the strength of the Lord. And this 92 00:09:20.049 --> 00:09:26.080 is exactly what this shepherd will do as well. The second important and the 93 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:31.960 more important thing that happens in Bethlehem in verse four, we read that he 94 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:37.950 shall shepherd, who shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the 95 00:09:39.110 --> 00:09:46.830 Lord, and this of course, refers to Jesus. The events are surrounding 96 00:09:46.909 --> 00:09:52.629 Bethlehem and David Point US forward, and this passage points us forward to Jesus 97 00:09:52.669 --> 00:09:58.580 as well. Reading Micah Chapter Five, you might your mind might be brought 98 00:09:58.620 --> 00:10:01.539 back to those early events in Bethlehem and go, oh, yes, we 99 00:10:01.740 --> 00:10:07.169 remember what happened in Bethlehem. We remember how the Lord raised up a shepherd 100 00:10:07.210 --> 00:10:11.529 for his people, David, and as we look back on history, it's 101 00:10:11.690 --> 00:10:15.289 as of God's people would look back from this time. Hopefully they would have 102 00:10:15.330 --> 00:10:18.570 thought of that and they would have remembered not only David is an example of 103 00:10:18.769 --> 00:10:24.799 God's great work among his people, but God's promised to David that he would 104 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:30.360 do through him and through his lineage and even greater work, that one day 105 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:35.320 a son of David would be born, a son of David who would also 106 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:41.789 be one who would establish the Kingdom of God, but an everlasting way, 107 00:10:41.990 --> 00:10:46.309 in a permanent way, and that's exactly what's described here in Mica for or 108 00:10:46.350 --> 00:10:50.539 Mica Five. He shall stand in Shepherd is straws flock and the strength of 109 00:10:50.620 --> 00:10:54.860 the Lord, in The Majesty of the name of the Lord is God, 110 00:10:54.340 --> 00:11:00.179 and they shall be, they shall dwell secure. For now he shall be 111 00:11:00.460 --> 00:11:07.289 great to the ends of the Earth. Right David's work reached perhaps as far 112 00:11:07.330 --> 00:11:11.529 as tire and side and but never to the ends of the Earth. The 113 00:11:11.649 --> 00:11:16.730 fartherest Solomon might get, have gotten is sort of by extension. The people, 114 00:11:16.850 --> 00:11:22.519 like the Queen of Sheba, came from a long way away to celebrate 115 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:28.759 Solomon and learn from his wisdom. But by no means that Solomon's kingdom extend 116 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:33.470 to the ends of the Earth. The Kingdom of Christ, however, does 117 00:11:33.750 --> 00:11:41.230 and will. God promises one who though this great battle is coming, this 118 00:11:41.429 --> 00:11:48.100 great a destruction of the people as coming, he promises them a hope that 119 00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:56.980 is even greater still. And this is such great news. This is the 120 00:11:58.100 --> 00:12:03.970 hope of Bethlehem, that is, that is a personified in this city and 121 00:12:03.490 --> 00:12:11.090 is shown forth in Christ. In the song, will sing a little town 122 00:12:11.169 --> 00:12:18.840 of Bethlehem after the sermon, but listen to the words. A little town 123 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:24.080 of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie above thy deep and dreamless sleep. 124 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:28.960 The silent stars go by. Sleepy little town. That's the picture. 125 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:37.789 Yet in the dark streets shineth the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of 126 00:12:37.990 --> 00:12:43.950 all the years are met in thee tonight. The author of this hymn is 127 00:12:43.070 --> 00:12:48.899 referring to Mike afive. Here. It's referring to the covenants that God made 128 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:52.179 with David, or the Covenant God made with David. It's referring all the 129 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:56.179 way back to Moses and all the way back to even God's promise to Adam 130 00:12:56.259 --> 00:13:00.730 and Eve that for a long time the world has been waiting, waiting, 131 00:13:01.250 --> 00:13:05.889 waiting for the birth of this son, for the revealing of this shepherd, 132 00:13:05.169 --> 00:13:11.570 and now here and nowhere'sville, Israel, this dark, sleepy little town, 133 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:18.120 is going to come forth a king, a shepherd even greater than David. 134 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:24.639 The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. Then 135 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:28.870 Verse Two, for Christ is born of Mary and gathered all above, while 136 00:13:30.029 --> 00:13:33.429 mortals sleep, the angels keep their watching, or their watch of wondering love. 137 00:13:35.110 --> 00:13:39.750 Oh morning stars together proclaim the holy birth and praises, saying to God 138 00:13:39.950 --> 00:13:46.580 the king and peace, two men on earth. Here the the image is 139 00:13:46.940 --> 00:13:50.299 of the they're sort of a mixture of the images of the stars and the 140 00:13:50.419 --> 00:13:54.659 angels being sort of the first ones to witness the birth of the Messiah. 141 00:13:56.490 --> 00:13:58.690 And you remember this, right. The shepherds were out in the fields by 142 00:13:58.730 --> 00:14:03.850 night and the angels revealed to them, I said someone is born, this 143 00:14:03.970 --> 00:14:07.289 king is born, and peace is coming. Right, and this is the 144 00:14:07.409 --> 00:14:13.759 promise here of Mica Peace. And how wonderful this news is, how important 145 00:14:15.159 --> 00:14:20.639 this promises, when Israel is about to be ravaged, exposed, polarized, 146 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:28.110 enslaved. Can you imagine knowing that the enemy is on your doorstep and was 147 00:14:28.230 --> 00:14:33.870 coming and was and God is promising that your enemy was going to be successful? 148 00:14:35.190 --> 00:14:39.659 He's not saying now, stand up and you, if you work hard 149 00:14:39.700 --> 00:14:45.700 enough, you might win this one. Now he's saying this battle is already 150 00:14:45.820 --> 00:14:50.539 over, this trial is coming, this conflict is coming, but it will 151 00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:58.250 be superseded by something greater, something that is filled with peace. What an 152 00:14:58.289 --> 00:15:03.850 important message that is to remember. And when we think of God's judgment and 153 00:15:05.049 --> 00:15:09.960 his discipline, will come back to that first verse three. Now, how 154 00:15:09.159 --> 00:15:15.000 silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given. So God imparts to 155 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:20.519 human hearts the blessings of his heaven. No ear may hear his coming in 156 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:24.470 the world of sin, where meek souls, or yes, we're meek souls, 157 00:15:24.509 --> 00:15:31.190 will receive him. Still, the dear Christ enters in, Oh holy 158 00:15:31.309 --> 00:15:37.659 child of Bethlehem, descend to us. We pray to cast our cast out 159 00:15:37.700 --> 00:15:41.820 our sin and enter in, be born in us today. So the hymn 160 00:15:41.860 --> 00:15:46.340 writer here and as we sing this we are asking God to do in us 161 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:50.649 what he did in Bethlehem, to reveal, in the darkness of our lives 162 00:15:50.769 --> 00:15:56.610 and our trials and our sufferings, the light of Christ, that we might 163 00:15:56.809 --> 00:16:02.450 know his peace, that we might know his glory. We hear the Christmas 164 00:16:02.529 --> 00:16:07.399 Angels, the Glad Tidings, tell oh, come to us, abide with 165 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:11.840 us, our Lord Emanuel. Of course, Emmanuel means God with us. 166 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:18.830 Rights, a wonderful a word to end that that verse with, and this 167 00:16:18.990 --> 00:16:23.309 is so important in a passage like Mike afive, where where God is coming 168 00:16:23.549 --> 00:16:32.629 against his people to judge them for their sin, he is also promising to 169 00:16:32.789 --> 00:16:38.179 be with them through it. And this is the lesson I want to impress 170 00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:47.769 on your hearts tonight, that when we look at God's judgment, when we 171 00:16:47.929 --> 00:16:52.049 look at the hard things that he brings into our lives. There's two ways 172 00:16:52.169 --> 00:16:57.370 of seeing it, depending on who you are. If you do not belong 173 00:16:57.570 --> 00:17:02.519 to God, if you are against him, if you are one of his 174 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:10.119 enemies, then God's judgment are a warning to you. They are temporal warnings 175 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:14.599 to you of the greater judgment that is to come on the last day. 176 00:17:15.150 --> 00:17:19.470 Whatever you might be suffering now, if you think this is bad, it's 177 00:17:19.589 --> 00:17:23.750 only going to be worse, it's only going to be harder, it's only 178 00:17:23.829 --> 00:17:30.859 going to be forever. When the when? If you are in a place 179 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:36.259 where you are an enemy of God and you see the judgment of God coming, 180 00:17:36.740 --> 00:17:41.420 your response to be should be to be afraid, to know that the 181 00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:44.289 one who is the Lord over all the earth, the one who can move 182 00:17:44.650 --> 00:17:49.650 the Assyrians and the Babylonians and the Israelites around on his great world as easily 183 00:17:49.690 --> 00:17:56.329 as you might move a chess piece, is one that you should fear and, 184 00:17:56.529 --> 00:18:00.000 knowing him to be the great God of all the Earth, you should 185 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:03.680 turn to him and repentance and ask him to forgive your sins and lean upon 186 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:08.440 His grace that is offered to the whole world, to the ends of the 187 00:18:08.599 --> 00:18:14.509 Earth, and he promises to give that to you, praise God. But 188 00:18:14.549 --> 00:18:18.910 if you belong to those who are on God's side, who belong to him, 189 00:18:19.150 --> 00:18:25.470 who know that judgment has already passed for you in Christ, then you 190 00:18:25.509 --> 00:18:29.259 don't need to fear the coming judgment and wrath of God, because you know 191 00:18:29.539 --> 00:18:33.460 that's already past for you. It's already been taken care of. That's why 192 00:18:33.539 --> 00:18:38.700 you are called justified. That's why, Paul says, for those who trust 193 00:18:38.740 --> 00:18:44.450 in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation, there is no wrath of God. 194 00:18:45.410 --> 00:18:51.250 So the judgments that we experience in these lives are not are not our 195 00:18:51.930 --> 00:18:56.839 foretaste of future judgment. They for us, for Christians, they are instead 196 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:03.960 the discipline of our heavenly father. They are the ways in which he humbles 197 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:07.640 us. There are the ways in which he chastises us and teaches us to 198 00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:14.710 rely more and more upon him. And that's what the faithful should see in 199 00:19:14.829 --> 00:19:19.150 a passage like Mica Five. When, if you imagine yourself as an Israelite 200 00:19:21.470 --> 00:19:25.900 who is hearing these words for the first time, who hears the hoof beats 201 00:19:25.980 --> 00:19:30.460 of the enemy coming down upon your city, what is your response, not 202 00:19:30.660 --> 00:19:34.779 just to them but, more importantly, to God? Who is promised that 203 00:19:34.859 --> 00:19:41.970 this day had come. The response of the Faithful, the response of the 204 00:19:42.329 --> 00:19:48.009 Christian, the one who trusts in the Christ in the anointed, one in 205 00:19:48.089 --> 00:19:52.079 the Messiah, the one who trusts is is the one who is of God. 206 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:56.039 And that person will look at these things and of course they will find 207 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:00.400 fear and perhaps be afraid, but ultimately they will know that God is at 208 00:20:00.440 --> 00:20:06.440 work, that God is causing us to lean not upon our own strength, 209 00:20:07.349 --> 00:20:11.710 not of course, upon our sins, but to lean upon him and his 210 00:20:11.950 --> 00:20:18.910 promises. That's is what is coming together here. It is a connection between 211 00:20:18.509 --> 00:20:23.059 the threatenings of God and the promises of God, and when we understand that 212 00:20:23.299 --> 00:20:29.299 connection and we lean upon him holy we can find peace, even in the 213 00:20:29.339 --> 00:20:33.059 midst of great tragedy, even when we are paying in a way, not 214 00:20:33.299 --> 00:20:37.250 for not in an eternal sense, but we are feeling the consequences of our 215 00:20:37.329 --> 00:20:45.730 sins, we can know that God is still there, God is still preserving 216 00:20:45.769 --> 00:20:48.089 us, God is still taking care of us and that God has a greater 217 00:20:48.849 --> 00:20:56.920 a greater hope for us. This image in verse three is is an important 218 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:03.119 one. He shall give them up until the time when she who is in 219 00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:07.269 Labor has given birth, then the rest of his brothers shall return to the 220 00:21:07.430 --> 00:21:15.190 people of Israel. Jesus says, Jesus says in John Chapter Sixteen, Twenty 221 00:21:15.230 --> 00:21:22.819 one, that a woman in Labor is sorrowful, she is travailing, she 222 00:21:22.980 --> 00:21:26.579 is in anguish, until that moment that she realizes she is given birth to 223 00:21:26.700 --> 00:21:32.539 a man, and then she rejoices, she holds, as I mentioned in 224 00:21:32.619 --> 00:21:36.690 a previous sermon recently, she holds that baby in her arms and all that 225 00:21:36.970 --> 00:21:44.690 sorrow goes away. And this analogy Jesus gives is, of course, correct. 226 00:21:44.890 --> 00:21:48.160 Of these kinds of things and it's important for us to remember, under 227 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:55.039 whatever situation, whatever darkness and whatever suffering we are facing, the yes, 228 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:57.440 we need to realize that God is sovereign and as God is at work in 229 00:21:57.519 --> 00:22:03.750 our lives, but we also need to remember that though he is disciplining us, 230 00:22:03.789 --> 00:22:07.309 he does it because he loves us. And though he disciplines us, 231 00:22:07.349 --> 00:22:12.109 he does it because he has something greater for us, and that is peace. 232 00:22:14.789 --> 00:22:18.140 And for that reason, Christians tend to do things in funny ways. 233 00:22:19.579 --> 00:22:26.779 They mourn, for example, and grieve not as those who don't have hope. 234 00:22:26.980 --> 00:22:32.369 They suffer and they cry, they wail on job. You remember, 235 00:22:32.410 --> 00:22:41.009 he covered himself and sackcloth and ashes, and yet nevertheless he didn't curse God, 236 00:22:41.250 --> 00:22:45.599 he didn't despair, he didn't say this is all vanity, it's all 237 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:51.079 over. No, he knew that God had his purposes. And here, 238 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:55.480 in a passage that is much, much written, much, much later in 239 00:22:55.599 --> 00:23:00.349 time than job, we have a greater sense of why we can have that 240 00:23:00.589 --> 00:23:04.470 hope and why we can have that faith, because Christ, who is born, 241 00:23:06.509 --> 00:23:11.789 born and unlikely places, born in dark places, and nevertheless is born 242 00:23:12.420 --> 00:23:22.500 and saves the world. It's for this reason, then, that when we 243 00:23:23.059 --> 00:23:29.569 suffer, when we struggle and when we sorrow, we ought to look to 244 00:23:29.690 --> 00:23:33.490 Jesus. We ought to look to Jesus, who is the savior of the 245 00:23:33.609 --> 00:23:37.930 world, who makes all things right. Let us pray